Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1982

F0 tornado, Stephens County, Texas, May 27, 1982

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Stephens County on May 27, 1982, touching down at 12:10 AM CDT and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did under $50 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
May 27, 1982
Touchdown
12:10 AM CDT (05:10 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
under $50
County
Stephens County
Touchdown point
32.870, -98.650
Record number
508

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Stephenville/Cla, TX (KSEP), 00:00Z

5.2 hours before the tornado, 89 km from the path. May 28, 1982.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 00:00Z on 1982-05-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1996 joules per kilogram, CIN -297, lifted condensation level 1217 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 00:00Z on 1982-05-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 317 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 54 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1996 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-297 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3721 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1217 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
317 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
376 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Stephenville/Cla, TX (KSEP), 12:00Z

6.8 hours after it, 89 km from the path. May 28, 1982.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 12:00Z on 1982-05-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1668 joules per kilogram, CIN -43, lifted condensation level 773 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 12:00Z on 1982-05-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -104 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1668 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-43 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1871 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
773 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-104 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-119 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-1.4
Supercell composite
-7.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

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The other tornadoes of May 27, 1982

17 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 2712:30 PM CDTF1, FL0.320$500,000 to $5 million
May 273:00 PM CDTF0Terry, TX0.210under $50
May 273:45 PM CDTF0Ector, TX0.413under $50
May 273:45 PM CDTF0Lynn, TX0.410under $50
May 274:15 PM MDTF2Otero, NM0.110$50,000 to $500,000
May 275:45 PM CDTF2Roger Mills, OK0.550$50,000 to $500,000
May 276:05 PM CDTF0Dickens, TX0.210under $50
May 275:13 PM MDTF2Lea, NM0.110$5 million to $50 million
May 276:40 PM CDTF0Hardeman, TX0.110under $50
May 277:14 PM CDTF1Wilbarger, TX1.050$500 to $5,000
May 277:35 PM CDTF2Tillman, OK12.0300$500,000 to $5 million
May 278:20 PM CDTF1Caddo, OK0.550$500,000 to $5 million
May 278:25 PM CDTF2Caddo, OK0.55013$50,000 to $500,000
May 279:10 PM CDTF2Mitchell, TX23.030$50,000 to $500,000
May 279:20 PM CDTF0Dickens, TX0.310under $50
May 279:45 PM CDTF2Kingfisher, OK0.5502$50,000 to $500,000
May 2712:43 AM CDTF0Eastland, TX0.110under $50

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.