A super cell thunderstorm developed in the vicinity of Scurry, Fisher and Kent counties around 230 in the afternoon on the 5th. This storm tracked east northeast across northern Fisher county.
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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 SJT wrote it up.
A super cell thunderstorm developed in the vicinity of Scurry, Fisher and Kent counties around 230 in the afternoon on the 5th. This storm tracked east northeast across northern Fisher county. After moving through Stonewall county the storm tracked almost due east across southern Haskell and Throckmorton counties. This storm kept going for several more hours and eventually went through the Dallas Fort Worth area. While moving through the northern big country, the storm produced three weak tornadoes. The greatest damage from this storm was produced by the very large hail up to the size of Softballs.
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 Apr 5, 2:00 PM CST, 1 hour earlier.
WEST CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 200 PM CST SAT APR 5 2003 QUICK UPDATE TO ADD TORNADO WATCH. ACTIVITY CONTINUES TO INCREASE FROM THE NORTHERN PERMIAN BASIN NORTHWARD TO NEAR CHILDRESS. ACTIVITY SHOULD INCREASE ACROSS THE BIG COUNTRY BY 4 PM...WITH MORE SCATTERED ACTIVITY DEVELOPING SOUTHWARD DOWN THE DRYLINE INTO THE CONCHO VALLEY EVENTUALLY. MORE IN REGULAR DISCUSSION COMING UP SHORTLY. 07 MORNING DISCUSSION... MOISTURE CONTINUE TO MOVE INTO WEST CENTRAL TEXAS THIS MORNING. DEW POINTS HAD RISEN INTO THE 40S NORTH OF INTERSTATE 20...AND IN THE 50S ELSEWHERE. EVEN MIDLAND HAD A DEW POINT OF 54 F AT 10 AM. A WEAK COLD FRONT WAS OVER HASKELL AND THROCKMORTON COUNTIES. KTXS SCHOOL NET INDICATED ENE WINDS AT KNOX CITY...AND EAST WINDS AT HASKELL AND STAMFORD...ALONG WITH TEMPERATURES AROUND 59 F...ABOUT 5 TO 7 DEGREES COOLER THAN ELSEWHERE IN THE BIG COUNTRY. THE BIG COUNTRY WILL CONTINUE TO BE A CONCERN FOR SEVERE WEATHER LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...INCLUDING THE POTENTIAL FOR TORNADOES. A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXISTS FROM ABILENE AND BAIRD...NORTHWARD TO HASKELL AND THROCKMORTON. A VERY GOOD VERTICAL SHEAR PROFILE WILL EXIST IN THIS AREA NEAR THE WEAK COLD FRONT. SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. FORECAST LOOKS GOOD. WITH MOISTURE AND DRYLINE POSITION FURTHER WEST HOWEVER...WILL ADD A SLIGHT CHANCE OF STORMS OVER THE CONCHO VALLEY AND N EDWARDS PLATEAU THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE STORMS ACROSS THE REST OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. 04 ...245 AM DISCUSSION BELOW... .CURRENT...WINDS ARE BEGINNING TO SWITCH BACK TO THE EAST AND SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA. THIS IS RESULTING IN MOISTURE SURGING BACK TO THE WEST. ALTHOUGH DEWPOINTS HAVE NOT RECOVERED OVER THE FORECAST AREA YET...60+ DEWPOINTS NOT THAT FAR AWAY. THIS IS UNDERDONE IN MODEL GUIDANCE AS WELL. .TODAY...INTERESTING FORECAST SHAPING UP FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. FIRST OF ALL DRYLINE WILL CONTINUE TO RETREAT TO THE WEST THROUGH THE MORNING HOURS RESULTING IN A NICE RECOVERY OF MOISTURE ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. THE DRYLINE IS THEN FORECAST TO BECOME STATIONARY ACROSS THE EXTREME WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST THIS AFTERNOON. IN THE MEAN TIME...A WEAK COOL FRONT WILL WORK SOUTH TO ABOUT SAN ANGELO AND BROWNWOOD THIS MORNING BEFORE HEADING BACK TO THE NORTH AS A WARM FRONT THIS AFTERNOON. AREA ALONG AND NORTHEAST OF THE INTERSECTION (BIG COUNTRY COUNTIES) OF THESE TWO FEATURES WILL BE VERY FAVORABLE AREA FOR SEVERE WEATHER WITH GOOD INSTABILITY AND STRONG SHEAR. FURTHER TO THE SOUTH THINGS A LITTLE MORE UNCERTAIN AS FAR AS SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...HOWEVER CAN NOT RULE IT OUT WITH GOOD INSTABILITY OVER THE AREA AND STRONG CONVERGENCE ALONG THE DRY LINE. LOOKS LIKE THUNDERSTORM INITIATION WILL BE MID TO LATE AFTERNOON AS MID LEVEL SPEED MAX APPROACHES AND HELPS TO INCREASE LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE TO OVERCOME WHAT CAP WILL BE LEFT. WILL ALSO BE RAISING THE POPS TO CHANCE CATEGORY. TONIGHT...WILL SEE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS IN THE BIG COUNTRY AND THE FAR EASTERN COUNTIES WITH GRADUAL DIMINISHING TREND AS BEST PARAMETERS MOVE TO THE EAST. .REST OF FORECAST...OTHER THAN TWEAKING A FEW TEMPERATURES TO LINE UP WITH SURROUNDING FORECAST GRIDS...MADE LITTLE CHANGE TO THE FORECAST. HOWEVER TEMPERATURES WEDNESDAY MORNING MAY BE COOLER THAN FORECAST...BUT WITH THE WIDE SWINGS IN GUIDANCE OF LATE WILL CONTINUE TO HOLD STEADY UNTIL WE SEE SOME CONSISTENCY. CCF PRELIMS... ABI 078/056 078/045/072 4510 SJT 080/055 078/044/075 1200 JCT 081/057 080/045/078 2200 .SJT...NONE. 27/BRAZZELL
TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139-140- 154-155-168>170-062000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 218 PM CST SAT APR 5 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE... THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE BIG COUNTRY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. A VERY WARM AND UNSTABLE AIR MASS WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD NORTHWEST ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. MEANWHILE...A DRYLINE ACROSS THE EASTERN PERMIAN BASIN AND A WARM FRONT MOVING NORTH ACROSS THE BIG COUNTRY WILL FOCUS THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. GIVEN THE LARGE AMOUNT OF SHEAR PRESENT...ANY STORM THAT DOES DEVELOP WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF REACHING SEVERE LEVELS AND PRODUCE ISOLATED TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL ...AND DAMAGING WINDS. THE MAIN THREAT OF TORNADOES WILL BE ALONG AND NORTH OF A SAN ANGELO TO BROWNWOOD LINE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION HAS ALREADY BEEN ACTIVATED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
9 hail, 3 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Brief tornado right along the Fisher and Stonewall county line and was filmed by a chase crew.
Golf ball size hail fell for several minutes. The hail produced some roof damage to area homes.
Hail to the size of soft balls produced severe damage to vehicles. One horse was killed and trees were stripped of limbs.
Golf ball size hail produced damage to homes just south of Haskell.
Tornado reported by a storm chaser, and was on the ground for several minutes.
Hen egg size hail caused damage to several homes.
Quarter size hail covered the ground in the city of Haskell.
Storm chasers measured an 82 mph thunderstorm wind gust.
Cooperative observer reported a brief tornado near the intersection of highway 283 and county road 209.
Severe damage to storm chaser vehicles all along county road 209 west of Woodson. Three people were injured by the combination of hail and broken glass.
Thunderstorm winds tore the roof of of a home and blew out several windows.
Softball size hail ravaged the community of Woodson in southeast Throckmorton county. There was severe damage to structures and automobiles throughout the community.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2003Warnings in Texas, April 2003
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: 5352792, 5352793, 5351321, 5351322, 5352004, 5352005, 5352368, 5352369, 5352370, 5352371, 5352372, 5352373, 5352374, 5352375.