F2 tornado, Throckmorton, Texas, April 7, 2002

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.

Rating

F2

Date

April 7, 2002

Touchdown

3:34 PM CDT (20:34 UTC)

Path length

7.0 miles (11.3 km)

Path width

1,500 yards (1372 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

County

Throckmorton County

Touchdown point

33.180, -99.330

Lift-off point

33.230, -99.250

Record number

543

Severe thunderstorms rolled across much of West Central Texas during the afternoon and evening hours of the 7th. Two supercells produced a total of 5 tornadoes, 3 across the northern Big Country in Throckmorton County and 2 more across the Northern Edwards Plateau in Crockett County. Although one of the tornadoes in Throckmorton was about three quarters of a mile wide and stayed on the ground for 16 minutes, it fortunately crossed open farmland, striking no homes were causing no injuries. Damage was more extensive with the southern supercell, with tennis ball size hail causing tens of thousands of dollars of damage to several ranch houses in eastern Crockett County. Other storms produced hail up to golf ball size across parts of the Concho Valley and Heartland.

Immediately after the first tornado dissipated, a second larger, more stable multiple vortex tornado developed. Tracking along a 7 mile long path across western Throckmorton County, this tornado would reach over three quarters of a mile wide. Fortunately, the tornado tracked largely over open county and damage was minimal for a tornado of this size. Partially buried fence posts were torn out of the ground and disappeared, while a 300 yard path was swept clean and a large mesquite tree was ripped out of the ground.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS SJT issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:30 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:30 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:52 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.

Abilene (ABI), 96 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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