F1 tornado, Von Ormy to Somerset, Texas, March 19, 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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

F1

Date

March 19, 2002

Touchdown

7:25 PM CST (01:25 UTC)

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

60 yards (55 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.0 million

County

Bexar County

Touchdown point

29.230, -98.580

Lift-off point

29.220, -98.580

Record number

487

Tornado number one, an F0 on the Fujita Scale, formed near 715 pm at the intersection of Greenwood Road and Gridley Road. It moved toward the southeast for one mile, then dissipated. The path width was 20 yards. It damaged roofs and walls of mobile homes and houses, took large limbs off trees, and showed a great variation in direction in how it tossed the debris. It dissipated at 717 pm.

Tornado number two, also an F0, formed near 717 pm at the intersection of Jarrett Road and Gridley Road. It also tracked toward the southeast, dissipating after one-half mile. Its path width was also estimated at 20 yards. It damaged roofs of mobile homes and houses, and damaged trees in the area. Debris was again tossed in several directions. This tornado dissipated at 719 pm.

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.

22 minutes of warning. NWS EWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:03 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 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 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 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.

San Antonio/Stinson (SSF), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:25 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.

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

14 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.