Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1995

F2 tornado, Kerr County, Texas, May 7, 1995

This F2 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Kerr County on May 7, 1995, touching down at 9:36 PM CDT and reaching 400 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 2, and did $5,000 to $50,000 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 mph

    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 mphthis tornado

    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
F2
Date
May 7, 1995
Touchdown
9:36 PM CDT (02:36 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
400 yards (366 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
2
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
County
Kerr County
Touchdown point
30.220, -99.320
Record number
262

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
01:25 UTC02:30 UTCTornado WarningEWX
05:20 UTC06:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEWX

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:07 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

Del Rio, TX (KDRT), 00:00Z

2.6 hours before the tornado, 174 km from the path. May 8, 1995.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Del Rio, TX at 00:00Z on 1995-05-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2882 joules per kilogram, CIN -119, lifted condensation level 1703 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Del Rio, TX at 00:00Z on 1995-05-08The 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 406 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 68 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
2882 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-119 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1279 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1703 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
68 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
406 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
552 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
13.2
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Del Rio, TX (KDRT), 12:00Z

9.4 hours after it, 174 km from the path. May 8, 1995.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Del Rio, TX at 12:00Z on 1995-05-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -28330, lifted condensation level 2268 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Del Rio, TX at 12:00Z on 1995-05-08The 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 -319 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 65 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-28330 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2268 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
65 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-319 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-100 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1995 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 7, 1995

32 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 71:40 AM CDTF2Randall, TX12.0200112$50,000 to $500,000
May 78:05 AM CDTF0Hansford, TX0.223
May 71:05 PM CDTF0Archer, TX0.123
May 73:17 PM CDTF0Jack, TX0.110
May 73:25 PM CDTF0Wise, TX0.5100$5,000 to $50,000
May 73:56 PM CDTF0Greer, OK0.273
May 74:00 PM CDTF1Murray, OK2.0100
May 74:10 PM CDTF1Garvin, OK6.0200$5,000 to $50,000
May 74:10 PM CDTF3Montague, TX26.0880211$500,000 to $5 million
May 74:20 PM CDTF3Love, TX to OK34.188036$50 million to $500 million
May 74:20 PM CDTF1Johnston, OK0.250$500 to $5,000
May 74:45 PM CDTF0Seminole, OK0.273
May 74:55 PM CDTF0Hughes, OK1.030$500 to $5,000
May 75:08 PM CDTF2Hughes, OK6.050$5,000 to $50,000
May 75:25 PM CDTF1San Jacinto, TX8.050
May 75:29 PM CDTF1Murray, OK3.0200$50,000 to $500,000
May 75:38 PM CDTF0Okfuskee, OK0.130$5,000 to $50,000
May 74:39 PM MDTF0Weld, CO0.510
May 75:45 PM CDTF1Barton, MO5.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 75:52 PM CDTF1Coleman, TX0.110$50,000 to $500,000
May 75:53 PM CDTF1Murray, OK0.120$5,000 to $50,000
May 76:00 PM CDTF0Concho, TX0.220$5,000 to $50,000
May 76:22 PM CDTF0Coleman, TX0.110$50,000 to $500,000
May 77:30 PM CDTF0Brown, TX0.110$500 to $5,000
May 77:30 PM CDTF0Eastland, TX18.010$5,000 to $50,000
May 78:00 PM CDTF1Brown, TX5.010$50,000 to $500,000
May 78:41 PM CDTF2Real, TX2.03002$5,000 to $50,000
May 79:10 PM CDTF0Kerr, TX0.110
May 79:20 PM CDTF0Erath, TX0.110$5,000 to $50,000
May 79:36 PM CDTF1Real, TX0.1105$500 to $5,000
May 710:15 PM CDTF1Tarrant, TX10.03004$500,000 to $5 million
May 711:50 PM CDTF1Hickory, MO0.450$5,000 to $50,000

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.