Jarrell Tornado -- NB I-35 Bell County Safety Rest Area, Salado TX
N 30° 54.110 W 097° 33.567
14R E 637671 N 3419611
A sign of history inside the large very new safety rest area along the northbound I-35 in Salado, not far from the tiny central Texas town of Jarrell, which was almost completely destroyed by an F5 tornado in 1997
Waymark Code: WMTK34
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 12/02/2016
Views: 1
Mama Blaster remembers the Jarrell tornado very well, and even today, 20 years later there are still a cluster of 40 bare foundations where a subdivision once stood, the aftermath of tornado that devastated this small town and killed 27 people on a terrible day in May, 1997.
In 2016, Texas Department Transportation has opened a safety rest areas on both sides of the I 35 near Salado. Each rest area incorporates tornado safe rooms for travelers who may need to seek refuge here in the volatile Texas spring time. Interpretive panels inside the rest area give tornado survival tips and recall the devastation at Jarrell.
The sign reads as follows:
"THE JARRELL TORNADO
The day began much like any other. It was Tuesday, May 27, 1997. Although a 50 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms was forecast, the children went to school as usual. Their parents resumed the rhythms of their daily lives. By early afternoon, news of tornado spread through town and the people cast wary eyes toward the darkening skies. At 3:30 p.m. a tornado warning was issued. Who knows who saw the tornado first. Tanya Wagers said she was watching television when she looked out the window and saw the funnel. Gary Lohman said he could see it coming, “We watched it for 10 or 15 minutes. At first it was thin and narrow and we thought it would dissipate. Then it came up from the ground in a huge mass.” When storm chaser Lon Curtis arrived in Jarrell, he said, “it looked like most of the town’s residents were outside watching the tornado move toward their city.”
The tornado slammed into town with winds over 261 miles per hour. Within those few seconds, the tornado left 27 people dead. The twister destroyed about 50 homes, ripped pavement from roads, debarked trees and carried dozens of automobiles more than half mile away from where they were parked. There was nothing left in a three-quarter mile wide swath left in the tornado’s wake as it swept to the south-southwest. One Jarrell subdivision was literally wiped from the map.
The outbreak of tornadoes in Central Texas on that fateful day was among the most destructive on record. There were 16 confirmed tornadoes, including the Jarrell tornado, which was rated F5, the most intense rating on the Fujita scale. From the time the first twister was sighted until the last was sighted, the outbreak lasted 13.5 hours. “I’ve been through two World Wars,” Terry Meares remembered, “but I’ve never been through anything like this.”
More in the Jarrell tornado can be found here: (
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