Check Out When Wichita Falls Became the First Texas City With Tornado Radar

Back in the late 1950's, Wichita Falls became the first in Texas for a new experimental technology to help study tornadoes more efficiently.

You might have heard the phrase, "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls". Turn out Wichita, Kansas and Wichita Falls, Texas are more connected than people think. Back in the late 1950's, the National Weather Bureau would deploy their new Dopplers in two cities. Wichita in 1958 and Wichita Falls in 1959, now technically this new technology could not detect incoming tornadoes, it was more used to measure wind speed more accurately during a tornado.

Original Doppler from Wichita, Kansas in 1958

You can see what the original Doppler looked like above. Something similar was right here in Wichita Falls just a year later. KSN-TV in Wichita, Kansas just ran a report this week on this early Doppler technology and how they also invented the tornado siren in their city as well. Something that has been a hot topic in Wichita Falls recently since some of our sirens are having issues.

Watch News Report on Early Doppler Technology in Wichita Falls

It's pretty crazy how they were able to get this technology working all the way back in the 1950's. If you're interested in tornado history for Wichita Falls.Weather.gov has a great history of major tornadoes that touched down in our town starting from 1888 if you can believe it. Obviously April 10,1979 is the most famous tornado in Wichita Falls history for the amount of damage it caused to our town. You can get more tornado facts below.