and southeast New Mexico during the evening of the 1st. Several damaging microbursts affected the area.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 active severe weather episode unfolded across the central and western Permian Basin...and southeast New Mexico during the evening of the 1st. Several damaging microbursts affected the area. Flash flooding along with intense and damaging lightnin, accompanied the storms. Total losses in the Permian Basin likely exceeded $300,000.
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 Aug 1, 1:00 PM CST, 4 hours 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 200 PM CDT THU AUG 1 2002 MAIN CONCERN THIS FORECAST CYCLE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING CONVECTION...MAINLY ACROSS THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN CWA. A STRONG COLD FRONT IS SWEEPING ACROSS NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO AND THE PANHANDLE ATTM. FRONTS PROGRESS SHOULD GRADUALLY SLOW...AND IS EXPECTED TO PUSH INTO THE TEXAS SOUTH PLAINS BY MORNING BEFORE STALLING. DO NOT EXPECT A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ACROSS THE CWA FROM THIS FEATURE. HOWEVER...WE WILL MONITOR ITS PROGRESS. MAIN FEATURE OF CONCERN IS THE LINGERING SHEAR AXIS WHICH HAS GENERATED CONVECTION OVER PARTS OF THE CWA THE LAST SEVERAL DAYS. THIS FEATURE IS VERY DIFFICULT TO DISTINGUISH TODAY ON VAPOR IMAGERY...AN INDICATION THAT IT HAS WEAKENED. HOWEVER...EVIDENCE OF A WEAK DEFORMATION ZONE REMAINS OVER THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE AREA PER 12Z UPPER AIR DATA AND AREA PROFILERS. THIS ZONE IS BETWEEN TWO ANTICYCLONIC CIRCULATIONS IN THE LARGE SCALE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE...ONE OVER SOUTH TEXAS...AND THE OTHER OVER COLORADO. ASIDE FROM DIURNAL CONVECTION IN THE MOUNTAINS...SHORT RANGE MODELS AGREE THAT WEAK ASCENT FROM THIS FEATURE WILL RESULT IN CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS THE WESTERN LOW ROLLING PLAINS... NORTHERN BASIN...AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO. THE BEGINNINGS OF THIS MAY BE EVIDENT NOW WITH CU/TCU FIELD NORTHWEST OF TATUM...FORMING NEAR AREA OF WEAK SURFACE CONVERGENCE AND PRESSURE FALLS. WILL MONITOR MID AFTERNOON SATELLITE/RADAR TRENDS TO DECIDE ON EVENING POPS. BELIEVE MID LEVEL SUPPORT FOR CONVECTION WILL SHIFT WEST BY LATE FRIDAY...GIVING THE MOUNTAINS AND ADJACENT PLAINS THE BEST CHANCE FOR RAIN. THIS SHOULD REMAIN THE CASE THROUGH SATURDAY. AS THE CENTRAL PLAINS RIDGE BUILDS EAST BY LATE WEEKEND... DISTURBANCES WILL APPROACH WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO FROM THE EAST. WILL MAINTAIN SLIGHT CHANCE POPS SUNDAY INTO THE EXTENDED. MAF 72/095/71/094 2-11 LSA 74/096/73/095 2-11 6R6 75/096/74/095 1-11 MRF 62/084/61/083 2121 CNM 70/098/70/096 2-21 .MAF... TX...NONE. NM...NONE. LINDLEY
The El Paso radar (KEPZ), 218 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:46 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 1 tornado, 1 flood, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A DPS trooper traveling on Interstate 10 reported a "long and skinny" tornado east of Van Horn. Radar indicated a strong thunderstorm in the area with cloud tops to 50,000 feet.
A damaging microburst occured in the northern portions of the city of Midland. High winds up to 70 MPH resulted in numerous large trees being blown down...damage to fences...and business signs. The most significant damage was centered near the intersection of Loop 250 and Garfield Street... however... windows were broken by the high winds as far west as Midkiff Street. Power lines were also blown down...resulting in power outages. One power line landed on a vehicle. No injuries were reported.
Law officials reported flooding of low lying areas along Interstate 10 east of Van Horn.
A second strong microburst developed near the Ector and Midland County line...just northwest of the Midland International Airport...just before 900 PM CDT. As a result...high winds broke windows and blew down trees in the city of Gardendale.
Winds up to 70 MPH from severe thunderstorms resulted in damage throughout parts of the city of Andrews. The most significant damage occured at the First Baptist Church...where a portion of the roof was blown off. The same church lost its roof during severe thunderstorms in July. In addition...several large trees were blown down throughout the city.
Lightning struck building 11 at the Polo Park Apartment complex in north Midland. The building was fully engulfed in flames within thirty minutes. All residents were evacuated and no injuries were reported.
Several cars were reported to have been stalled by high water on Midkiff and Garfield Streets...just south of Loop 250 in Midland. Flash flooding resulted from very high rainfall rates associated with the microburst in the northern parts of the city. No injuries were reported, however, water was reported to be as high as the windshields on a few cars.
Four lanes of Highway 180 were covered by high water on the southeast side of the city of Seminole.
The intersection of Farm to Market 1788 and Highway 115 was covered by high water.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2002Warnings in Texas, August 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: 5315132, 5315212, 5315213, 5315136, 5315211, 5315131, 5315133, 5315134, 5315135.