Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2002

F0 tornado, Rio Hondo, Texas, May 29, 2002

This F0 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Cameron County on May 29, 2002, touching down at 8:17 PM CDT and reaching 15 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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 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
May 29, 2002
Touchdown
8:17 PM CDT (01:17 UTC)
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
15 yards (14 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Cameron County
Touchdown point
26.230, -97.520
Lift-off point
26.230, -97.520
Record number
681

What the Weather Service recorded

Fire and Rescue reported a brief tornado with roof damage east of Rio Hondo

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 00:47 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 Brownsville, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 29, 2:00 PM CDT, 6 hours 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 29, 2:00 PM CDT, 6 hours 17 minutes before
DEEP SOUTH TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
200 PM CDT WED MAY 29 2002

AFTERNOON SEABREEZE/BOUNDARY HAS RETURNED WITH SHOWERS DEVELOPING IN
KENEDY COUNTY AT 12:30 PM. EXPECT SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS TO
CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ALONG THE COASTAL COUNTIES AS THE PGF HAS
WEAKENED AND MID LVL NLY FLOW HAS ALLOWED CAP TO DETERIORATE. A WEAK
DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE SOUTH OVER SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS TODAY ALONG THE
BACK SIDE OF THE MID/UPPER LOW...INCREASING NORTHERLY MID LVL FLOW AND
STEEPENING LAPSE RATES AS THE MID/UPPER LOW DROPS SOUTH INTO THE
NORTHWESTERN GULF. WIND PROFILES WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR SOME
ORGANIZED DEEP CONVECTION OVER ALL OF DEEP SOUTH TEXAS LATE THIS
AFTERNOON/EVENING AND AGAIN ON THURSDAY WITH ISOLATED SEVERE WEATHER
POSSIBLE. TO THE NORTH...OVER SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...MESOSCALE
BOUNDARY INTERACTIONS CONTINUE TO BE THE FOCUS FOR CONVECTION...AND
ANY BOUNDARY THAT APPROACHES LATER THIS EVENING WILL BE THE
FOCUS FOR ADDITIONAL SHOWER/THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY...ESPECIALLY NORTH
OF A LINE FROM RAYMONDVILLE TO ZAPATA.

MODELS IN AGREEMENT WITH MOVEMENT OF MID-UPPER LOW NOW OVER
SOUTHEAST OK AND BRING IT INTO THE NORTHWESTERN GULF BY FRIDAY.
PROXIMITY OF THE UPPER LOW WILL KEEP SOME CLOUDS AND A SLIGHT CHANCE
OF PCPN ACROSS THE VALLEY THROUGH EARLY SAT...WITH THE BEST CHANCE
OF PCPN ACROSS THE EASTERN COUNTIES NEAR THE COAST...BEFORE THE
UPPER RIDGE OUT WEST BEGINS TO BUILD EASTWARD.  DAYS 6 AND 7...MRF
DRAGS A TROUGH EASTWARD OVER THE GREAT BASIN...WITH LOW PRESSURE
STRENGTHENING OVER FAR WEST TEXAS...A PERIOD OF BREEZY CONDITIONS
WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH TEMPS AT OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE CLIMATOLOGY.

MARINE...LIGHT WINDS AND LOW SEAS HAVE PREVAILED OFFSHORE TODAY. THE
ONSHORE WIND WILL CONTINUE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SOME DISRUPTION
TONIGHT BY A POTENTIAL LINE OF SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS. INCREASED
INSTABILITY AND RAIN CHANCES WILL PREVAIL FOR THE NEXT TWO OR THREE
DAYS...AS AN UPPER LOW DESCENDS INTO THE NORTHWEST GULF...AND UPPER
DISTURBANCES MOVE NORTH TO SOUTH AROUND THE LOW...DESTABILIZING THE
ATMOSPHERE.

PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...
BRO BB 074 091/074 088 071 20/30/20/20/20
HRL BB 074 092/072 089 070 20/30/20/20/20
MFE BB 075 096/076 092 071 20/30/20/20/20
RGC BB 074 097/073 095 069 20/30/20/20/20
SPI BB 078 085/077 084 076 20/30/20/20/20

SYNOPTIC...MCGUIRE.55
AVIATION-MARINE...MILLER.54
MESO...MARTINEZ.ABBOTT

INTERNET ADDRESS...WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/BRO

.BRO...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 29, 7:47 PM CDT, 30 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
747 PM CDT WED MAY 29 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0744 PM    SAN PERLITA               TX   65 MPH TSTM GUST
05/29/02   WILLACY                        REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.
Local storm report, May 29, 7:57 PM CDT, 20 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
757 PM CDT WED MAY 29 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0753 PM    DONNA                     TX   WIND DAMAGE
05/29/02   HIDALGO                        POWER LINES AND POLES
                                          BLOWN DOWN. REPORTED BY
                                          LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
Local storm report, May 29, 8:04 PM CDT, 13 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
804 PM CDT WED MAY 29 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0753 PM    WESLACO                   TX   TORNADO
05/29/02   HIDALGO                        REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
Local storm report, May 29, 8:09 PM CDT, 8 minutes before
SATLSRBRO ALL
TTAA00 KBRO DDHHMM

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
809 PM CDT WED MAY 29 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0753 PM    5 N RIO HONDO             TX   60 MPH TSTM GUST
05/29/02   CAMERON                        REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.
Local storm report, May 29, 8:12 PM CDT, 5 minutes before
SATLSRBRO ALL
TTAA00 KBRO DDHHMM

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
812 PM CDT WED MAY 29 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0753 PM    MC COOK                   TX   55 MPH TSTM GUST
05/29/02   HIDALGO                        REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.
Local storm report, May 29, 8:17 PM CDT, 0 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
817 PM CDT WED MAY 29 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0817 PM    (HRL)RIO GRANDE ARPT      TX   55 MPH TSTM GUST
05/29/02   CAMERON                        REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

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.

Brownsville Intl, TX (KBRO), 00:00Z

1.3 hours before the tornado, 39 km from the path. May 30, 2002.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Brownsville Intl, TX at 00:00Z on 2002-05-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1612 joules per kilogram, CIN -54, lifted condensation level 910 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, Brownsville Intl, TX at 00:00Z on 2002-05-30The 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 27 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 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
1612 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-54 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1949 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
910 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
27 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
75 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
2.8
0-3 km lapse rate
7.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Brownsville Intl, TX (KBRO), 12:00Z

10.7 hours after it, 39 km from the path. May 30, 2002.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Brownsville Intl, TX at 12:00Z on 2002-05-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 670 joules per kilogram, CIN -257, lifted condensation level 1288 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, Brownsville Intl, TX at 12:00Z on 2002-05-30The 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 55 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
670 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-257 J/kg
Surface CAPE
475 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1288 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
107 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Harlingen International Airport (HRL), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:58 UTC8472120° 20 kt1008.1
00:42 UTC80.671.6110° 17 kt1009.5-RA
00:46 UTC80.671.6110° 17 kt1009.5-RA
00:58 UTC7973110° 16 kt1010.2RA
01:08 UTC73.471.640° 25 kt301011.9+RA BR
01:12 UTC71.671.660° 39 kt491011.9+RA BR
01:17 UTC66.266.260° 33 kt491011.2+RA FG
01:27 UTC69.866.280° 14 kt351010.8+RA BR
01:30 UTC69.866.290° 11 kt291011.2+RA BR
01:34 UTC69.866.2100° 22 kt251010.5-RA BR
01:58 UTC7268170° 17 kt1009.5
02:58 UTC7371190° 18 kt241008.1

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

The radar

The Brownsville radar (KBRO), 36 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:16 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 May 29, 2002

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 292:37 PM CDTF0Kittson, MN6.025
May 293:30 PM CDTF0Roseau, MN0.225
May 293:40 PM CDTF0Roseau, MN0.225
May 293:54 PM CDTF0Roseau, MN0.225
May 297:10 PM CDTF0Willacy, TX2.025
May 297:56 PM CDTF0Hidalgo, TX2.525

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.