1999 Loyal Valley tornado

During the afternoon of May 11, 1999, a violent, multiple-vortex tornado struck areas around the community of Loyal Valley in Texas, killing one person.

The tornado, rated a high-end F4 on the Fujita scale,[1][2] caused extreme damage along its relatively short path.

The National Weather Service (NWS) office in San Angelo noted that this was an extremely slow-moving tornado, which tracked approximately 7 miles (11 km).

[1] In total, the tornado killed one person, injured six others, and caused $1 million (1999 USD) in damage as it traveled at an average forward speed of 10 miles per hour (16 km/h).

[6] In 2023, the NWS office in San Angelo stated this was the strongest tornado ever recorded in their forecasting area and that "considerations were made for an F5 rating".

A pickup truck destroyed by the tornado. This photograph was used as the cover of the May 1999 Storm Data publication from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration .