Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2002

F0 tornado, Grandview, Texas, April 16, 2002

This F0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Johnson County on April 16, 2002, touching down at 7:07 PM CDT and reaching 40 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
April 16, 2002
Touchdown
7:07 PM CDT (00:07 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Johnson County
Touchdown point
32.300, -97.130
Lift-off point
32.300, -97.130
Record number
529

What the Weather Service recorded

The tornado touched down in open country with no known damage.

The tornado touched down in open country with no known damage.

The tornado touched down in open country with no known damage.

The tornado touched down in open country with no known damage.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

8 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:59 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:45 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
21:53 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
22:47 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
22:54 UTC23:45 UTCTornado WarningFWD
23:37 UTC00:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
23:59 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningFWD

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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 22:44 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Fort Worth, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 16, 3:34 PM CDT, 3 hours 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 16, 3:34 PM CDT, 3 hours 33 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
334 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2002

ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING IN THE SOUTHWEST
PORTION OF THE FORECAST AREA ALONG THE 70 DEGREE DEWPOINT
BOUNDARY...AHEAD OF THE DRYLINE. WILL CONTINUE AFTERNOON FORECAST OF
CHANCE POPS OVER THE REGION INTO THIS EVENING. IT WILL ALSO REMAIN
MUGGY THIS WEEK AS DEWPOINTS WILL REMAIN IN THE MID 60S TO LOWER
70S. NORTHERN PLAINS LOW MOVING INTO CANADA SO PRESSURE GRADIENT AND
SURFACE WINDS TO NOT BE QUITE AS STRONG AS MONDAY. WEST-SOUTHWEST
FLOW ALOFT TO CONTINUE INTO THE WEEKEND AS SHORTWAVES CONTINUE TO
MOVE THROUGH LONGWAVE TROUGH OVER WESTERN U.S. NO FRONTS OR DRYLINE
TO AFFECT THE AREA THROUGH THURSDAY SO WILL CONTINUE THE ABOVE
NORMAL TEMPS AND HUMIDITY. GUSTY WINDS AGAIN THURSDAY WITH NEW
CENTRAL PLAINS LEE SIDE LOW DEVELOPING. NEXT CHANCE OF RAIN CONTINUE
TO BE OVER THE WEEKEND THOUGH THE AVN MODEL RUN THIS MORNING NOW
KEEPS THE FRONT...AND THE HEAVIEST RAIN...ALONG THE RED RIVER. WE/LL
SEE. 82

FCSTID = 82
DFW   69  87  69  88 /  30   0   0   0
ACT   70  89  70  90 /  30   0   0   0

.FWD...
TX...NONE.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 16, 3:33 PM CDT, 3 hours 34 minutes before
TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-171100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH TEXAS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
333 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2002

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER ALL BUT THE
EXTREME EASTERN PART OF NORTH TEXAS TONIGHT. THE RISK AREA IS
GENERALLY ALONG AND WEST OF A LINE FROM CENTERVILLE...TO
CORSICANA...TO KAUFMAN...TO BONHAM. THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF
GAINESVILLE...SHERMAN...DENISON...GRAHAM...DENTON...GREENVILLE...
EASTLAND...STEPHENVILLE...LAMPASAS...TEMPLE...KILLEEN...WACO...AND
THE DALLAS...FORT WORTH METROPLEX.

THE DRY LINE OVER WEST TEXAS WILL BE THE PRIMARY FOCUS FOR
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS A WEAK UPPER
LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVES ACROSS THE REGION. AS THE DRY LINE PUSHES
EAST INTO THE WARM...MOIST UNSTABLE AIRMASS OVER NORTH
TEXAS...THUNDERSTORMS WILL QUICKLY DEVELOP.

SOME OF THESE STORMS WILL BECOME SEVERE...WITH LARGE HAIL AND HIGH
WINDS. IN ADDITION...THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF TORNADOES
DEVELOPING IN THE STRONGER ROTATING THUNDERSTORMS.

RESIDENTS OF NORTH TEXAS SHOULD STAY ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING
WEATHER CONDITIONS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
OFFICIALS...AND STORM SPOTTERS CAN EXPECT POSSIBLE
ACTIVATION...BEGINNING AS EARLY AS 400 PM IN THE RISK AREA.

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.

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 00:00Z

0.1 hours before the tornado, 61 km from the path. April 17, 2002.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2002-04-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 165 joules per kilogram, CIN -194, lifted condensation level 1686 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2002-04-17The 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 83 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 53 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 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
165 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-194 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1373 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1686 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
158 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

11.9 hours after it, 61 km from the path. April 17, 2002.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2002-04-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1260 joules per kilogram, CIN -188, lifted condensation level 594 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2002-04-17The 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 108 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 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
1260 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-188 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1617 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
594 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
108 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
167 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Fort Worth - Spinks (FWS), 34 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:47 UTC78.869.8180° 10 kt261010.5TS

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 34 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:07 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2002 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 16, 2002

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 165:42 PM CDTF0Tarrant, TX1.6100$10,000
April 165:49 PM CDTF0Tarrant, TX0.650$2,000
April 165:52 PM CDTF0Tarrant, TX0.870$10,000
April 165:59 PM CDTF3Tarrant, TX2.180$250,000
April 166:56 PM CDTF0Johnson, TX1.170
April 167:11 PM CDTF0Johnson, TX1.0100
April 167:14 PM CDTF0Johnson, TX1.040
April 167:31 PM CDTF1Ellis, TX2.3200$10,000
April 167:50 PM CDTF0Ellis, TX0.475$3,000
April 168:01 PM CDTF0Ellis, TX0.270$10,000
April 168:18 PM CDTF1Atoka, OK3.0100$30,000
April 168:25 PM CDTF0Ellis, TX0.460
April 169:15 PM CDTF0Pushmataha, OK0.325

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.