Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2002
F2 tornado, Von Ormy to Somerset, Texas, March 19, 2002
From Von Ormy to Somerset, this F2 tornado ran 1.5 miles across Bexar County on March 19, 2002, touching down at 7:20 PM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 30, and did $2.0 million 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.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- March 19, 2002
- Touchdown
- 7:20 PM CST (01:20 UTC)
- Path length
- 1.5 miles (2.4 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 30
- Property damage
- $2.0 million
- County
- Bexar County
- Touchdown point
- 29.250, -98.680
- Lift-off point
- 29.270, -98.700
- Record number
- 486
What the Weather Service recorded
Tornado number three, an F1 on the Fujita Scale, also formed around 717 pm at the intersection of Ess Road and Jarrett Road. It moved toward the southeast, dissipating after one-half mile. Its path width was estimated at 20 yards. It destroyed a mobile home, damaged others and also damaged trees in the area. This tornado dissipated near 719 pm.
Tornado number four, another F1, formed 1 mile east of the intersection of Ess road and Jarrett Road around 719 pm. It moved toward the southeast, dissipating after one mile. Its path width was estimated at 50 yards. It struck three mobile homes that had been tied end-to-end and severely damaged all three. It left them twisted into the shape of a letter 'U.' With no other structures in the area, the remainder of its damage was to trees.
Tornado number five, strongest of the six and rated as a minimal F2 tornado on the Fujita Scale, formed about 3.5 miles southwest of the intersection of Loop 1604 and I35. It struck near 720 pm along near Silver Street and Bravo Street and moved toward the north for 1.5 miles. It apparently weakened periodically, producing a hit-and-miss damage path. It completely destroyed four mobile homes and damaged several others.
Tornado number six, struck just east of Somerset on SH16, about one mile north of Loop 1604. It was rated F1 on the Fujita Scale, and tracked toward the southeast. It damaged a large barn and several outbuildings at a construction site as it moved approximately one-half mile. It was estimated at 60 yards wide.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
17 minutes of warning. NWS EWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:03 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01:03 UTC | 02:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | EWX |
| 01:51 UTC | 02:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | EWX |
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 01:11 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), 12:00Z
10.7 hours after it, 209 km from the path. March 20, 2002.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -89658 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1102 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 20 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -104 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -12 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.7 K/km
The surface observations
Kelly Afb (SKF), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:55 UTC | 82.4 | 73.4 | 110° 14 kt | 21 | 1003 | |
| 00:55 UTC | 80.6 | 75.2 | 110° 10 kt | 1003.7 | ||
| 01:13 UTC | 82.4 | 75.2 | 80° 11 kt | 1003.4 | TS | |
| 01:35 UTC | 78.8 | 78.8 | 280° 30 kt | 58 | 1010.8 | TSRA SQ |
| 01:40 UTC | 69.8 | 69.8 | 290° 18 kt | 58 | 1010.8 | TSRA GR |
| 01:59 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 360° 13 kt | 27 | 1007.5 | -TSRA BR |
| 02:30 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 30° 9 kt | 1007.8 | -TS | |
| 02:55 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 130° 6 kt | 1009.8 | ||
| 03:01 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 3 kt | 1010.8 | -TSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:19 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 March 19, 2002
14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 19 | 1:31 PM CST | F1 | Tom Green, TX | 3.0 | 50 | $2,000 | ||
| March 19 | 2:00 PM CST | F1 | Tom Green, TX | 4.0 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| March 19 | 2:13 PM CST | F0 | Runnels, TX | 0.2 | 20 | |||
| March 19 | 3:20 PM CST | F0 | Val Verde, TX | 0.2 | 30 | |||
| March 19 | 3:45 PM CST | F0 | Val Verde, TX | 0.2 | 30 | |||
| March 19 | 4:04 PM CST | F0 | Kinney, TX | 0.2 | 100 | |||
| March 19 | 4:10 PM CST | F0 | Val Verde, TX | 0.2 | 30 | |||
| March 19 | 6:50 PM CST | F0 | Uvalde, TX | 2.0 | 50 | |||
| March 19 | 7:10 PM CST | F1 | Medina, TX | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| March 19 | 7:15 PM CST | F0 | Bexar, TX | 0.5 | 20 | $500,000 | ||
| March 19 | 7:17 PM CST | F0 | Bexar, TX | 0.5 | 20 | $500,000 | ||
| March 19 | 7:17 PM CST | F1 | Bexar, TX | 0.5 | 20 | $500,000 | ||
| March 19 | 7:19 PM CST | F1 | Bexar, TX | 1.0 | 50 | $500,000 | ||
| March 19 | 7:25 PM CST | F1 | Bexar, TX | 0.5 | 60 | $1.0 million |
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.