Hail, Irion
- When
- March 19, 12:45 PM CST
- Where
- Irion County, Mertzon
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 31.267, -100.817
Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Texas, March 19, 2002
A supercell thunderstorm produced 3 tornadoes as it moved from San Angelo northeast to near Ballinger. Although the tornadoes produced minor damages, hail up to the size of golf balls that fell during the storm pounded the southern half of San Angelo, producing over $15 million in damage.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $16 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 17
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 SJT wrote it up.
A supercell thunderstorm produced 3 tornadoes as it moved from San Angelo northeast to near Ballinger. Although the tornadoes produced minor damages, hail up to the size of golf balls that fell during the storm pounded the southern half of San Angelo, producing over $15 million in damage. Other storms produced quarter size hail and wind damage across parts of the Heartland and Northwest Hill Country.
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 San Angelo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 19, 3:05 AM CST, 9 hours 40 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 19, 3:05 AM CST, 9 hours 40 minutes before
WEST CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 305 AM CST TUE MAR 19 2002 PRIMARY FEATURES OF CONCERN THIS MORNING INCLUDE NEARLY STATIONARY FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXTENDING FROM SW TO NE FROM SOUTHEASTERN CWA INTO ARK AHEAD OF APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL TROUGH EXTENDING NE FROM UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER NW MEXICO. THUNDERSTORMS HAVE BEEN FIRING ALONG AND NORTH OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY MUCH OF THE NIGHT. EXPECT CONTINUATION OF THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THROUGH TODAY AND INTO THE EVENING WITH EXPECTED STRONG CONVERGENCE ALONG A DEVELOPING FRONTAL BOUNDARY COMBINED WITH GOOD SYNOPTIC SCALE LIFTING AS UPPER TROUGH APPROACHES... HAVE BUMPED POPS UP ACCORDINGLY. LATEST MESOETA HAS CENTER OF UPPER LOW PASSING THROUGH CWA TONIGHT BEFORE OPENING AND LIFTING NE OUT OF THE AREA. WARMING TEMPS ON TAP INTO THE WEEKEND WITH A CHANCE OF PRECIP THE FIRST OF NEXT WEEK AHEAD OF THE NEXT SYSTEM... BUT WILL FOREGO MENTIONING CHANCE OF PRECIP ATTM. ABI 064/043/062/040 9500 SJT 065/044/064/039 8500 JCT 068/046/065/038 9600 .SJT...NONE. 15
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
8 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail, Tom Green
- When
- March 19, 1:15 PM CST
- Where
- Tom Green County, 10 mi SW of San Angelo
- Measured
- 0.88 in hail
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 31.367, -100.550
Hail, Tom Green
- When
- March 19, 1:25 PM CST
- Where
- Tom Green County, 3 mi SW of San Angelo
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Reported by
- NWS EMPLOYEE(OFF DUTY)
- Coordinates
- 31.433, -100.467
Tornado, Tom Green
- When
- March 19, 1:31 PM CST to 1:36 PM CST
- Where
- Tom Green County, 7 mi SE of San Angelo
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 3 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Property damage
- $2,000
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 31.400, -100.350
A tornado touched down on the extreme southeast side of San Angelo, producing minor damage as it tracked along a 3 mile long path. Several empty mobile homes were overturned and a handful of hunting blinds tossed around by the tornado.
Hail, Tom Green
- When
- March 19, 1:35 PM CST
- Where
- Tom Green County, 2 mi SW of San Angelo
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Property damage
- $16 million
- Reported by
- GENERAL PUBLIC
- Coordinates
- 31.450, -100.450
Hail up to golf ball size pounded the southern half of San Angelo shortly after noon, creating drifts several feet deep in places. Around 3500 homes suffered light to moderate damage, along with around 4000 automobiles. Many trees were stripped of their leaves. Hail stayed on the ground for at least 8 hours in some places.
Thunderstorm Wind, Tom Green
- When
- March 19, 1:35 PM CST
- Where
- Tom Green County, 2 mi SW of San Angelo
- Property damage
- $2,000
- Reported by
- GENERAL PUBLIC
- Coordinates
- 31.450, -100.450
Strong winds shattered windows in at least one business, causing minor damage.
Flash Flood, Tom Green
- When
- March 19, 1:35 PM CST to 2:35 PM CST
- Where
- Tom Green County, San Angelo
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 31.404, -100.462 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy rainfall of 2 to 3 inches in less than an hour brought flash flooding to parts of San Angelo. Between 10 and 15 people were stranded in at least 7 vehicles, with the occupants rescued by emergency personnel. No injuries were reported.
Tornado, Tom Green
- When
- March 19, 2:00 PM CST to 2:10 PM CST
- Where
- Tom Green County, 3 mi SW of Veribest
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 4 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 31.433, -100.300
A tornado traveled a 4 mile path across eastern Tom Green County, producing relatively minor damage. The tornado ripped part of a flat roof off of an outbuilding, threw several irrigation pipes a few hundred yards, and picked up and moved heavy steel pipes.
Thunderstorm Wind, Tom Green
- When
- March 19, 2:03 PM CST
- Where
- Tom Green County, 4 mi S of San Angelo
- Property damage
- $2,000
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 31.417, -100.433
Strong winds downed 4 power poles south of San Angelo.
Tornado, Runnels
- When
- March 19, 2:13 PM CST to 2:14 PM CST
- Where
- Runnels County, 5 mi S of Ballinger
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.2 mi
- Path width
- 20 yd
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 31.683, -99.950
A tornado briefly touched down in an open field south of the town of Ballinger.
Hail, Sutton
- When
- March 19, 2:40 PM CST
- Where
- Sutton County, Sonora
- Measured
- 0.75 in hail
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 30.567, -100.633
Hail, Menard
- When
- March 19, 3:50 PM CST
- Where
- Menard County, Ft McKavett
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 30.833, -100.100
Hail up to the size of golf balls was reported in Fort McKavett in western Menard County.
Hail, Kimble
- When
- March 19, 4:00 PM CST
- Where
- Kimble County, Junction
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 30.483, -99.767
Hail, McCulloch
- When
- March 19, 4:41 PM CST
- Where
- McCulloch County, 12 mi W of Brady
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 31.133, -99.533
Thunderstorm Wind, McCulloch
- When
- March 19, 4:55 PM CST
- Where
- McCulloch County, Voca
- Property damage
- $1,000
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 31.017, -99.183
A motorist reported that high winds blew his vehicle off of the road in southern McCulloch County.
Flash Flood, McCulloch
- When
- March 19, 5:20 PM CST to 6:30 PM CST
- Where
- McCulloch County, Brady
- Property damage
- $2,000
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 31.199, -99.347 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy rainfall of 2 to 3 inches flooded several streets in the town of Brady. At least one motorist had to be rescued from their vehicle when it became stranded in high water.
Thunderstorm Wind, San Saba
- When
- March 19, 5:45 PM CST
- Where
- San Saba County, 4 mi N of Richland Spgs
- Property damage
- $2,000
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 31.317, -98.950
Several trees were knocked down by high winds when a severe thunderstorm roared through San Saba County.
What these are
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Hail in Texas, March 19, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Texas, March 19 to 20, 2002
- Tornado and Hail in Texas, March 19, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Texas, March 19, 2002
- Tornado and Hail in Texas, March 19, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Texas, March 19, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Texas, March 19, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Texas, March 19, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Texas, March 19, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Texas, March 19, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Texas, March 19, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Texas, March 19, 2002
More
Every storm in Texas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2002Warnings in Texas, March 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: 5285728, 5285729, 5285798, 5285799, 5285800, 5285801, 5285802, 5285803, 5285804, 5285805, 5285806, 5285807, 5285808, 5285809, 5285812, 5285810, 5285811.