Hail in Texas, April 7, 2002

Name: Hail in Texas, April 7, 2002
Start: 2002-04-07T11:30
End: 2002-04-07T13:57
Location: Texas

April 7, 2002 · NWS MAF · 6 events in 4 counties and zones

Severe thunderstorms rapidly developed and intensified over the Permian Basin and Lower Trans Pecos region around midday on the 7th. and a dryline surged east through West Texas.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 6

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS MAF wrote it up.

Severe thunderstorms rapidly developed and intensified over the Permian Basin and Lower Trans Pecos region around midday on the 7th. The storms developed as a vigorous upper level low transited New Mexico...and a dryline surged east through West Texas. A few supercell storms were observed producing up to golfball size hail.

What forecasters said that day

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 7, 10:58 AM CST, 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 7, 10:58 AM CST, 32 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
1158 AM CDT SUN APR 7 2002

UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER CENTRAL NEW MEXICO LATE THIS MORNING...AND
MOVING EAST.  SHORTWAVES SPINNING EAST/NORTHEAST AROUND
SOUTHERN PERIPHERY OF UPPER LOW.  DRYLINE EXTENDING FROM SEMINOLE
TO ANDREWS...JUST EAST OF MONAHANS AND FORT STOCKTON...THEN SOUTH
TO JUST EAST OF THE BIG BEND.  VISIBLE SATELLITE SHOWING LINE OF
CU DEVELOPING FROM NEAR VINCENT TO MIDKIFF TO JUST WEST OF
BAKERSFIELD IN AREA OF BETTER LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE.  DRYLINE MAY
HAVE ALREADY OVERTOOK THIS CONVERGENT AREA NEAR FORT STOCKTON...
WHERE TSRA HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DEVELOP..BUT SO FAR NOT
SUCCEEDING PROBABLY DUE TO CAP.

THINK DRYLINE WILL BOW EASTWARD THROUGH THE CENTRAL PERMIAN
BASIN...LEAVING EXTREME SOUTHEAST AND NORTHEAST COUNTIES
SUSCEPTIBLE TO TSRA DEVELOPMENT BY MID AFTERNOON AS LIFT
APPROACHES FROM THE WEST ASSOCIATED WITH NEXT SHORTWAVE TROUGH.
WILL LEAVE CHANCE TSRA NORTHEAST THIS AFTERNOON AND SLIGHT TSRA
CHANCES SOUTHEAST DUE TO BETTER CAP.  ANY STORMS THAT DEVELOP
WILL PROBABLY INTENSIFY RAPIDLY...WITH BEST PROGGED CAPE
(1400 J/KG) AND LI/S (-4) EXPECTED OVER NORTHEAST COUNTIES.
TWEAKED TEMPERATURES AND WINDS MOST GROUPS.  UPDATE OUT SHORTLY.

.MAF...
TX...HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT TODAY UNTIL 2200 UTC FOR THE
     GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS OF WEST TEXAS...TXZ258.
NM...HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT TODAY UNTIL 2200 UTC FOR THE
     GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS OF NEW MEXICO...NMZ027.

AKL

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:32 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Upton

When: April 7, 11:30 AM CST to 12:00 PM CST
Where: Upton County, 2 mi SW of Rankin
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 31.200, -101.917

Hail, Glasscock

When: April 7, 12:05 PM CST
Where: Glasscock County, 3 mi S of St Lawrence
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 31.617, -101.500

Reported by a storm spotter near the county line on Highway 33.

Hail, Reagan

When: April 7, 12:05 PM CST
Where: Reagan County, 16 mi N of Stiles
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 31.633, -101.583

Reported by a storm spotter near the county line on Highway 33.

Hail, Pecos

When: April 7, 12:15 PM CST
Where: Pecos County, Iraan
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 30.917, -101.883

Hail, Pecos

When: April 7, 12:58 PM CST
Where: Pecos County, Sheffield
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 30.667, -101.833

Hail, Reagan

When: April 7, 1:57 PM CST
Where: Reagan County, 14 mi NNE of Stiles
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 31.583, -101.500

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Texas in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, April 2002

Sources

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: 5293325, 5293326, 5293327, 5293328, 5293329, 5293330.