An isolated severe thunderstorm formed along the dry line in the late afternoon in Dickens County. This thunderstorm split into two different cells with one going northeast into Oklahoma and the other moving almost due east across Stonewall, Haskell and Eastern Throckmorton Counties.
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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.
An isolated severe thunderstorm formed along the dry line in the late afternoon in Dickens County. This thunderstorm split into two different cells with one going northeast into Oklahoma and the other moving almost due east across Stonewall, Haskell and Eastern Throckmorton Counties. As the thunderstorm was over eastern Stonewall County, it begin to take on tornadic radar signatures and continued to intensify as it moved into Haskell County. During it's two hour trek across Haskell County, it produced at least four tornadoes. Right after the storm crossed over into Throckmorton County it weakened rapidly and eventually dissipated over the southeastern portion of Throckmorton County.
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 May 3, 1:15 PM CST, 4 hours 56 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 215 PM CDT SAT MAY 3 2003 PRIMARY FORECASTS CONCERNS ARE THUNDERSTORM CHANCES THIS EVENING AND SUNDAY AFTERNOON OVER THE EAST. 18Z SURFACE MAP SHOWS A DRYLINE EXTENDING FROM THE NW TIP OF CROCKETT COUNTY...NORTHWARD INTO THE SOUTH PLAINS...SW OF LUBBOCK. 19Z GOES VISIBLE IMAGERY SHOWS DEVELOPING CU NEAR THE EXPECTED DRYLINE POSITION...EAST OF KFST. 15Z RUC PROGS THE DRYLINE TO MAKE LITTLE EASTWARD PROGRESS THIS AFTERNOON...ALTHOUGH SOME DRIER MID LEVEL AIR IS PROGGED TO MIX TO THE SURFACE OVER THE WESTERN CONCHO VALLEY AND WESTERN BIG COUNTRY. 12Z MESOETA BOUNDARY LAYER CAPE/CINH PROG IS IN LINE WITH THE 06Z RUN IN DEVELOPING 3000+ J/KG BOUNDARY LAYER CAPE WITH NO CAP BY 21Z OVER THE HEARTLAND AND EASTERN BIG COUNTRY. UNLIKE FRIDAY...12Z MAF SOUNDING HAD MOISTURE IN THE LOWER LEVELS...WITH 17C DEWPOINTS UP TO 840MB. AS IT IS PRONE TO DO...THE MESOETA MAY BE MIXING THE DRYLINE TOO FAR EAST THIS AFTERNOON. FOLLOWING RUC SOLUTION...AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM OR TWO COULD DEVELOP AS FAR WEST AS THE SAN ANGELO AREA LATER THIS AFTERNOON. 18Z FWD SOUNDING SHOWS WEAK CAPPING...WITH EASILY REACHED CONVECTIVE TEMP INFERRED FOR OUR EASTERN BIG COUNTRY COUNTIES. ENTRANCE REGION OF LOW LEVEL JET WILL SET UP OVER WC TX TONIGHT... WITH NO LARGE AREAS OF ORGANIZED MOISTURE CONVERGENCE EXPECTED. IN RESPONSE TO A SHORTWAVE TROF PASSAGE SUNDAY AFTERNOON...THE MESOETA BRINGS THE DRYLINE THROUGH MOST OF WC TX. AVN MAV GUIDANCE IN AGREEMENT...WITH MID UPPER 40S DEWPOINTS AT KABI/KSJT AND MID 60S DEWPOINTS AT KSJT. CURRENT ISC GRIDS INDICATE NO CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE HEARTLAND/NW HILL COUNTRY FOR SUNDAY...BUT WE HAVE RESERVATIONS CONCERNING UNDERESTIMATED MESOETA BOUNDARY LATER CAPE IN THE PRESENCE OF STRONG LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE OVER EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA. WILL LIKELY ADJUST GRIDS AND MAINTAIN SLIGHT CHANCE POPS FROM THE PREVIOUS FORECAST OVER THE HEARTLAND/NW HILL COUNTRY. SHORTWAVE RIDGING ALOFT SHOULD KEEP A LID ON THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT MONDAY...BUT APPROACHING SHORTWAVE TROF SHOULD COOL MID LEVEL TEMPS SUFFICIENTLY TO HELP STORMS FIRE OVER THE EAST ON TUESDAY. PERSISTENCE APPEARS TO BE BEST FORECAST THROUGH LATE NEXT WEEK... UNDER WEAK CONVECTIVE CAP. ABI 071/093/063/088/061 22101 SJT 072/095/065/091/063 11101 JCT 070/090/064/092/062 22111 .SJT...NONE. 14
TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139-140- 154-155-168>170-041345- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 206 PM CDT SAT MAY 3 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE... THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS NORTH OF A LINE FROM SAN ANGELO TO SAN SABA. THIS AFTERNOON...A WARM FRONT WAS LOCATED OVER HASKELL AND THROCKMORTON COUNTIES...WHILE THE DRYLINE WAS CONTINUING TO GET BETTER ORGANIZED FROM NEAR LUBBOCK SOUTH TO ODESSA TO NEAR FORT STOCKTON. MEANWHILE...THE LOW CLOUDS THAT WERE OVER THE AREA THIS MORNING HAVE PRETTY MUCH ERODED ALLOWING SIGNIFICANT HEATING TO TAKE OCCUR...AND WITH SUFFICIENT MOISTURE IN PLACE...THE ATMOSPHERE IS BECOMING MORE UNSTABLE. WARMER TEMPERATURES ALOFT HAVE RESULTED IN A CAP THAT WILL ACT TO PREVENT THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. HOWEVER AS THE DRYLINE PUSHES EAST...AND AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHES THE AREA FROM NEW MEXICO...THE CAP MAY WEAKEN ENOUGH TO ALLOW ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP. THE BEST CHANCES OF THIS OCCURRING IS OVER THE BIG COUNTRY. ALTHOUGH THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE ISOLATED...THE STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP WILL BECOME RAPIDLY SEVERE AND PRODUCE VERY LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. THERE WILL ALSO BE SUFFICIENT WIND SHEAR FOR TORNADOES ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 20. IF THE THUNDERSTORMS CAN GET GOING...THEY SHOULD BEGIN TO FORM BETWEEN 4 AND 7 PM CDT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL AGAIN BE POSSIBLE SUNDAY EVENING THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK AS A FRONT INTERACTS WITH A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... IF THUNDERSTORMS CAN BREAK THE CAP...SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE NEEDED...ESPECIALLY OVER THE BIG COUNTRY. 27/BRAZZELL
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 tornado, 3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A brief tornado touchdown was reported near the community of Rule. A car passing by at the time was damaged due to debris hitting the car.
A multiple vortex tornado was spotted for several minutes just east of highway 277 about 8 miles south of Haskell. This tornado was over an open field and gave little information as to what wind speeds could have occurred. This tornado was rated as an F0.
Baseball size hail was reported about two to three miles north of the multiple vortex tornado.
Softball size hail was reported about a mile north of the tornado. This hail caused roof damage to a local tavern and to several automobiles.
Spotters watched a large one quarter mile wide tornado that moved across the northeast portion of lake Stamford. This tornado came within yards of hitting the lake Stamford power plant, however it did knock down 11 transmission poles coming out of the power plant and eight distribution poles. This tornado was also filmed by a weather broadcaster from a local Abilene television station.
Spotters watched a second rope tornado form out of a new mesocyclone located to the southeast of the one that contained the large tornado over lake Stamford.
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, May 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: 5358388, 5358389, 5358390, 5358391, 5358392, 5358393, 5358394.