and in proximity to a dryline bulge across southwest Texas. The storm produced large hail up to the size of golfballs as it progressed east across the Upper Trans Pecos region.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS MAF wrote it up.
An isolated supercell thunderstorm formed in an area of general upslope flow in the lee of the Guadalupe Mountains...and in proximity to a dryline bulge across southwest Texas. The storm produced large hail up to the size of golfballs as it progressed east across the Upper Trans Pecos region. At times hail accumulated to over two inches deep along Highways 652 and 285 in Culberson and northern Reeves Counties.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 6, 1:36 PM CST, 4 hours 34 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 136 PM CST SAT APR 6 2002 ELEMENTS APPEAR TO BE COMING TOGETHER FOR A BUSY AFTERNOON...EVENING ...AND OVERNIGHT. DRYLINE SITUATED FROM NEAR CARLSBAD TO ALPINE TO BIG BEND AT 06/18Z. MAIN SHORTWAVE TROUGH OVER WESTERN ARIZONA THIS AFTERNOON...WITH A STRONG SHORTWAVE EJECTING NORTHEAST THROUGH ARIZONA AND A BIT WEAKER IMPULSE TRAVERSING NORTHERN MEXICO AND SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO. ALREADY SEEING WEAK RETURNS ON KMAF RADAR... WEST OF DRYLINE AND MOVING INTO WESTERN EDDY COUNTY AT 06/19Z. PLENTY OF MOISTURE OVER EASTERN TWO THIRDS OF THE CWA WITH DEWPOINTS GENERALLY IN THE 50S. EXPECT SYNOPTIC SCALE LIFT TO INCREASE OVER WESTERN CWA BETWEEN 06/21Z AND 07/00Z. THINK WE WILL HAVE ENOUGH INSTABILITY FOR THUNDERSTORMS TO INITIATE ALONG THE DRYLINE DURING THIS TIME. CAPE OF 1000-1500 J/KG AND LI/S OF -4 TO -5 PROGGED ALONG DRYLINE...WITH GOOD VERTICAL WIND SHEAR PROFILE. WIDELY SCATTERED ACTIVITY WILL MOVE NORTHEAST...AND ALONG WITH ADDITIONAL LIFT... INCREASING MOIST LOW LEVEL FLOW AT H85 (45-50KT BY 07/03Z)...AND LFQ OF H25 JET THIS EVENING...SPUR MORE WIDESPREAD ELEVATED TSRA DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO...THE PERMIAN BASIN...AND THE LOW ROLLING PLAINS ABOVE COOL AIRMASS. INHERITED FORECAST IN GOOD SHAPE WITH THIS SCENARIO...SO WILL NOT BE CHANGING TOO MUCH. MCS COULD BE IN THE CARDS FOR THE OVERNIGHT PERIOD WITH ACTIVITY EXPECTED TO DIMINISH LATE TONIGHT. WILL GO WITH CHANCE POPS IN THE NORTHEAST ZONES SUNDAY MORNING AND SLIGHT CHANCE IN ADJACENT GROUPS TO THE WEST AND SOUTHWEST AS MAIN TROUGH AXIS AND ATTENDANT SHORTWAVE PASS OVER AREA SUNDAY AROUND 18Z. TEMPERATURES SUNDAY MAY BE COOLER THAN MOS WITH UPPER TROUGH OVERHEAD...AND IN SPITE OF SOUTHWEST SURFACE FLOW. SHOULD SEE DRY CONDITIONS THEREAFTER. TEMPERATURES WILL BE NEAR NORMAL MONDAY. EXPECTING A LITTLE COOLER TEMPERATURES TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY AS SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE SETTLES IN BEHIND UPPER TROUGH. WILL KEEP THE FORECAST DRY THROUGH THE EXTENDED AND WARM TEMPERATURES DAYS 5...6... AND 7. THE PRELIMINARY GUIDANCE BELOW IS FOR COORDINATION PURPOSES ONLY. OFFICIAL FORECASTS ARE CONTAINED WITHIN THE WEST TEXAS/SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO ZONE FORECAST. MAF 54/75/46/74 7200 LSA 50/73/41/70 7200 6R6 57/80/52/82 5100 MRF 44/69/36/73 3-00 CNM 50/75/45/74 5000 .MAF... TX...NONE. NM...NONE. AKL
NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075- 079>082-258-071030- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 230 PM CST SAT APR 6 2002 .SYNOPSIS... AN UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND WESTERN ARIZONA AT NOON SATURDAY WILL APPROACH SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO AND WEST TEXAS THROUGH EARLY SUNDAY. IN ADVANCE OF THIS SYSTEM...LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE OVER THE AREA. A DRYLINE WILL DEVELOP ACROSS SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO AND AND WEST TEXAS BY LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON. .SEVERE THUNDERSTORM THREAT... AS UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES THE REGION...THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS MUCH OF WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO. THUNDERSTORMS WILL FIRST DEVELOP NEAR THE DRYLINE IN THE VICINITY OF THE PECOS RIVER...AND ALSO NEAR THE GUADALUPE AND DAVIS MOUNTAINS. CONDITIONS WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS TO BECOME SEVERE. EXPECTED INSTABILITY AND WIND SHEAR SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUPERCELL STORMS. THE PRIMARY THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. HOWEVER...AN ISOLATED TORNADO WILL BE POSSIBLE... ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE TRANS PECOS REGION...SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO... AND THE WESTERN PERMIAN BASIN THROUGH MID EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS WILL SPREAD NORTHEAST DURING THE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS...INTO THE REMAINDER OF THE PERMIAN BASIN AND WESTERN LOW ROLLING PLAINS. ALTHOUGH THE THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL DIMINISH SOMEWHAT LATE THIS EVENING...A FEW OF THESE STORMS MAY ALSO BE SEVERE...PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS...STORM SPOTTER GROUPS...AND OTHER INTERESTED CONCERNS SHOULD MONITOR THIS SITUATION. SKYWARN STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED FOR SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045-050-057>061-067-068-074-075-080-081-258- 070500- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 553 PM CST SAT APR 6 2002 THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OKLAHOMA HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 1100 PM CST (1000 PM MST) SATURDAY EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES... IN WEST TEXAS... ANDREWS...BREWSTER...CRANE...CULBERSON...ECTOR...GAINES...JEFF DAVIS...LOVING...PECOS...REEVES...WARD AND WINKLER IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO... EDDY AND LEA A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL GREATER THAN 3/4 INCH...AND DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 58 MPH. VERY HEAVY RAINFALL AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. IF YOU ARE IN OR NEAR TO THE WATCH AREA...CHECK PREPAREDNESS REQUIREMENTS...KEEP INFORMED...AND BE PREPARED TO SEEK SAFE SHELTER IF A WARNING IS ISSUED OR SEVERE WEATHER IS OBSERVED.
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 177 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:12 UTC.
3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A storm chaser reported quarter to golfball size hail covering the ground along FM 652.
Storm spotters reported hail covering the ground along Highway 652.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, April 2002
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5293322, 5293323, 5293324.