A large supercell formed off of a cold front across northern Haskell County. As the storm back built to the south, storm chasers and law enforcement officials observed and reported a few weak tornadoes and several large hail sizes.
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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 large supercell formed off of a cold front across northern Haskell County. As the storm back built to the south, storm chasers and law enforcement officials observed and reported a few weak tornadoes and several large hail sizes.
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 1, 2:27 PM CST, 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 327 PM CDT FRI MAY 1 2009 .SHORT TERM... COLD FRONT PUSHING THROUGH OKLAHOMA INTO THE SOUTHERN SECTIONS OF THE PANHANDLE THIS AFTERNOON...AND SHOULD BE PUSHING INTO WEST CENTRAL TEXAS AFTER 00Z. DRYLINE TO THE WEST IS FAIRLY DIFFUSE...WITH MINIMAL CONVERGENCE. VERY UNSTABLE AIR MASS OUT AHEAD OF THE FRONT...AND DO EXPECT STORMS TO DEVELOP LATER THIS AFTERNOON ALONG THE FRONT JUST TO THE NORTH OF THE AREA. AS THE FRONT SLIDES SOUTHEAST...AREA OF CONVECTION WILL EXPAND AND SLIDE SOUTHEAST AS WELL. GIVEN THE MOST LIKELY AREA FOR INITIATION...MOST OF THE CONVECTION LIKELY PASSES NORTH AND EAST OF EVEN THE NORTHERN BIG COUNTRY. BUT WILL SEE SOME DEVELOPMENT BACK SOUTHWEST DOWN THE FRONT EVENTUALLY TO WHERE IT INTERSECTS THE DRYLINE. HAVE INCREASED POP INTO THE CHANCE RANGE FOR THE BIG COUNTRY. SPC SEEMS TO HAVE THE SEVERE ISSUES COVERED WELL...SO WILL NOT REITERATE. FRONT SHOULD GET A CONVECTIVE PUSH OVERNIGHT...BOOSTING IT FARTHER SOUTH INTO WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. NOT SURE HOW FAR IT WILL COME...OR GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF CLOUD COVER LIKELY TOMORROW...HOW UNSTABLE THE AIR MASS WILL BE. BUT DID BOOST POPS SLIGHTLY AND BRING THEM FARTHER SOUTH AS WELL. .LONG TERM... AN UPPER SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL MOVE THROUGH THE PANHANDLE AREA DURING THE DAY ON SUNDAY...WITH RAINFALL CHANCES INCREASING ALONG AND BEHIND A STATIONARY FRONTAL BOUNDARY LOCATED ALONG THE INTERSTATE 10 CORRIDOR. AS THE UPPER TROUGH AXIS MOVES EAST OF THE AREA DURING THE DAY ON SUNDAY...RAIN CHANCES WILL BE ENDING FROM WEST TO EAST...ENDING OVER THE FORECAST AREA BY SUNDAY EVENING. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD INTO THE AREA BEHIND THE DEPARTING UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM WITH A REINFORCING SHOT OF COLDER AIR PUSHING THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY WELL SOUTH OF THE AREA. MONDAY MORNING LOWS WILL BE AROUND 50 ACROSS THE AREA WITH AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES WARMING TO THE UPPER 70S TO LOW 80S. AS THE SURFACE HIGH DRIFTS EAST LATE MONDAY...SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL RAISE TUESDAY MORNING LOWS INTO THE 60S...WITH TUESDAY HIGHS BACK INTO THE 80S. THE GFS CONTINUES TO FORM A MID LEVEL DISTURBANCE OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS...HAVE ELECTED NOT TO MENTION RAINFALL IN THE ZONES WITH UNCERTAINTY AS TO THE TRACK OF THIS DISTURBANCE... ASSOCIATED BEST DYNAMICS LOOK TO BE EAST OF THE AREA. AS UPPER HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE SOUTHWESTERN STATES...TEMPERATURES WILL BE ON THE RISE...WITH UPPER 90S BY THE END OF THE EXTENDED. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... ABILENE 63 72 55 67 51 / 20 30 50 30 10 SAN ANGELO 66 79 59 76 52 / 10 20 40 20 10 JUNCTION 69 83 65 78 53 / 10 10 40 20 10 && .SJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 99/15
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 308 PM CDT FRI MAY 1 2009 TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139- 140-154-155-168>170-022015- FISHER-NOLAN-STERLING-COKE-RUNNELS-IRION-TOM GREEN-CONCHO- CROCKETT-SCHLEICHER-SUTTON-HASKELL-THROCKMORTON-JONES-SHACKELFORD- TAYLOR-CALLAHAN-COLEMAN-BROWN-MCCULLOCH-SAN SABA-MENARD-KIMBLE- MASON- 308 PM CDT FRI MAY 1 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE BIG COUNTRY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...AS A COLD FRONT PUSHES INTO THE AREA. VERY LARGE HAIL...PERHAPS UP TO BASEBALL SIZE...DAMAGING WINDS...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE. THE GREATEST RISK AREA WILL BE ALONG AND NORTH OF A ROBY TO ANSON TO BAIRD LINE. THE ENTIRE AREA OF STORMS WILL SLIDE SOUTHEAST LATE TONIGHT ...PERHAPS BRINGING A CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO AREAS FARTHER SOUTH ACROSS THE BIG COUNTRY AND HEARTLAND...INCLUDING SWEETATER...ABILENE...AND BROWNWOOD .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE COLD FRONT WILL SAG FARTHER SOUTH INTO WEST CENTRAL TEXAS FOR SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...PRODUCING MORE THUNDERSTORMS. THESE STORMS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF REACHING SEVERE LEVELS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
The Dyess AFB radar (KDYX), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:45 UTC.
9 hail, 3 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
An tornado briefly touched down in an open field as reported by Haskell County Law Enforcement.
A trained spotter reported a brief tornado touchdown in an open field.
Tea cup size hail was reported on the ground.
Softball size hail was reported on the ground by a trained spotter.
Three storm chasers reported a brief touch down of this tornado in an open field.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2009Warnings in Texas, May 2009
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: 170159, 170160, 170149, 170150, 170151, 170155, 170156, 170161, 170157, 170148, 170158, 170167.