Several severe thunderstorms affected the northeast Permian Basin of west Texas during the late afternoon and evening of the 25th. These storms developed near a dryline/cold front triple point.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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.
Several severe thunderstorms affected the northeast Permian Basin of west Texas during the late afternoon and evening of the 25th. These storms developed near a dryline/cold front triple point. A highly visible tornado was observed by many residents of Snyder in Scurry County. The parent thunderstorm produced large hail it tracked northeast over the city. A second supercell tracked east, then southeast across northern Mitchell County. This storm produced two tornadoes, baseball size hail, and damaging winds in the vicinity of Colorado City and Loraine.
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 May 25, 12:51 PM CST, 3 hours 54 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 151 PM CDT TUE MAY 25 2004 .SHORT TERM... A COLD FRONT EXTENDED FROM NEAR CHILDRESS TO SOUTH OF LUBBOCK TO NORTH OF HOBBS AT 18Z. THIS BOUNDARY SHOULD SLOWLY PUSH SOUTHEAST THE REMAINDER OF THIS AFTERNOON...ORIENTED ACROSS THE NORTHERN PERMIAN BASIN AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO. A DRYLINE EXTENDED SOUTH OF THE BOUNDARY FROM NEAR HOBBS TO WINK TO EAST OF FORT STOCKTON. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG THE DRYLINE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS THE TRANS PECOS REGION. CONVERGENCE/LIFT ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY MAY PROVIDE FOR A BETTER FOCUS FOR DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE PERMIAN BASIN LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SHEAR PROFILES AND INSTABILITY PARAMETERS WILL SUPPORT SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ACROSS THE EASTERN THIRD OF THE AREA THROUGH THIS EVENING...WITH THE MAIN CONCERNS BEING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND. THE BOUNDARY MAY TRY TO LIFT TO THE NORTH SLIGHTLY LATER TONIGHT...ALTHOUGH SCATTERED CONVECTION MAY CONTINUE NEAR THIS BOUNDARY OVERNIGHT AS THE LOW LEVEL JET INCREASES. OTHERWISE LOWS TONIGHT SHOULD BE IN THE 60S TO THE LOWER 70S OVER MOST LOCATIONS UNDER PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES. .LONG TERM... MID LEVEL FLOW VEERS WED SETTING UP DRYLINE W ACRS ERN NM INTO TRANS PECOS. LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE LOOKS TO FOCUS IN THE NE UNDERNEATH MID LEVEL THERMAL TROF AND BEST CHANCE FOR TSTMS IS THERE/LOWER TRANS PECOS. SRN STREAM TROF CONTINUES TO TAKE A FARTHER SWD TRACK. ETA IS SLOWEST...BUT GFS HAS LOW INITIALIZED BEST...FARTHEST SW AS COMPARED TO WATER VAPOR. SLIGHTLY FARTHER SWD TRACK WILL FAVOR STRONGER UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE ACRS W TX...AND POSSIBLY A LATER ARRIVAL THUR EVENING...OFF SET FROM MAX HEATING. GFS IS STILL QUICKER IN EJECTING LOW. ETA/S FCST SFC LOW POSITION (WRN OK) IS NOT FAVORABLE FOR BEST MSTR TO REMAIN IN PLACE ACRS W TX. AN ORGANIZED AND CONSISTENT 7H-3H OMEGA FIELD MVG ACRS W TX LOOKS TO PROVIDE STRONG LIFT. STRENGTH OF UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE AND BACKING 7H-85H FLOW THUR PM SUGGESTS A FARTHER WWD POSITION OF SFC LOW WITH BETTER MSTR POSSIBLE. SIGNIFICANT 5H COOLING THUR PM (2-5 DEGREES C) WILL HELP TO DESTABILIZE CONDITIONS ARCS TRANS PECOS AND EXPECT EARLY PM TSTMS THERE BEFORE STRONGER DYNAMICS ARRIVE EARLY EVENING. 50KTS OF 0-6KM BULK SHEAR TO FAVOR SEVERE TSTMS. DEEP/COLD MID LEVEL TROF QUICKLY MOVES INTO INTER MTN W SAT SERVING TO KEEP THICKNESS LOWER ACRS W TX AND WILL BACK OFF ON TEMPS IN EXTENDED A CATEGORY OR SO. TROF TO REMAIN N FAVORING A WLY COMPONENT AND LIMITED MSTR ACRS AREA. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... BIG SPRING TX 67 93 68 91 / 30 10 10 20 CARLSBAD NM 65 96 66 89 / 10 0 0 20 DRYDEN TX 72 93 68 89 / 20 10 10 20 FORT STOCKTON TX 72 94 67 91 / 30 10 10 20 GUADALUPE PASS TX 63 88 61 87 / 0 0 0 20 HOBBS NM 64 93 63 91 / 20 10 10 20 MARFA TX 60 88 58 84 / 10 10 10 20 MIDLAND INTL AIRPORT TX 69 94 68 92 / 30 10 10 20 ODESSA TX 67 95 68 94 / 30 10 10 20 WINK TX 72 99 69 94 / 30 10 10 20 && .MAF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...NONE. NM...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 300 PM CDT TUE MAY 25 2004 NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075- 079>082-258-261000- ANDREWS-BIG BEND AREA-BORDEN-CENTRAL LEA COUNTY-CRANE- DAVIS/APACHE MOUNTAINS AREA-DAWSON-ECTOR-EDDY COUNTY PLAINS-GAINES- GLASSCOCK-GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS-GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS OF EDDY COUNTY- HOWARD-LOVING-MARFA PLATEAU-MARTIN-MIDLAND-MITCHELL- NORTHERN LEA COUNTY-PECOS-PRESIDIO VALLEY-REAGAN- REEVES COUNTY AND UPPER TRANS PECOS-SCURRY-SOUTHERN LEA COUNTY- TERRELL-UPTON-VAN HORN AND HIGHWAY 54 CORRIDOR-WARD-WINKLER- 300 PM CDT (200 PM MDT) TUE MAY 25 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...GENERALLY ALONG AND EAST OF A HOBBS...PECOS...ALPINE LINE. ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER CONCERNS. FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING STRIKES AND HEAVY RAIN WILL ALSO ACCOMPANY ANY STORM THAT DEVELOPS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE...WITH LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS... FREQUENT LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING.
The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 135 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:47 UTC.
3 tornado, 3 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado was observed by several Snyder residents to the southwest of the city. The tornado remained over open country west of U.S. Highway 350 and resulted in no damage.
Numerous reports of hail ranging from pea size to quarter size were received from the Snyder vicinity as a supercell thunderstorm tracked across the area.
Law enforcement officials reported several city streets in Snyder were impassable due to more than one foot of flowing water caused by flash floods. Several vehicles were reported stalled in high water.
An off-duty National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist observed a tornado in rural areas of northern Mitchell County. The tornado was obscured by rain curtains wrapping around the parent mesocyclone during most of its life, but emerged from the precipitation area as a large dust shrouded vortex before it dissipated.
An intense gust front associated with the RFD surged south from the tornadic supercell in northern Mitchell County. This gust front was visually demarked by a classic dust foot that tracked from northwest to southeast across the town of Colorado City. The RFD winds resulted in downing at least two power poles. Utility lines were blown down across the city, and numerous large trees were uprooted. One tree fell onto a car. In addition, a portion of a roof was blown off of a mobile home, and damage was reported to a radio tower. No injuries were reported, but a local utility company reported at least fifty-two customers were left without electricity after the storm.
Baseball size hail was reported by the public at the Buford Gin near Highway 208 north of Colorado City. No damage was reported.
A thunderstorm characterized by rather benign radar signatures developed west of the Mitchell County supercell over eastern Howard County. This storm produced severe winds that blew a car off of Farm to Market Road 820 just north of Coahoma. In addition, an irrigation pivot system was blown into and snapped a row of ten power poles.
An off-duty NWS employee photographed a brief tornado north of Loraine. This tornado persisted for less than a minute and remained over open country north of Interstate 20.
Penny size hail was reported in Rio Grande Village.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2004Warnings in Texas, May 2004
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: 5394343, 5394072, 5394068, 5394346, 5394344, 5394070, 5394071, 5394345, 5394069.