F0 tornado, Ira, Texas, May 4, 2002

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.

Rating

F0

Date

May 4, 2002

Touchdown

11:15 PM CDT (04:15 UTC)

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

County

Scurry County

Touchdown point

32.550, -101.050

Lift-off point

32.550, -101.050

Record number

610

Numerous severe thunderstorms developed on the evening of the 4th across the Permian Basin. The most intense activity was across the eastern basin...where three supercell storms moved parallel to Interstate 20 producing large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. Damage resulting from a weak tornado was observed on Highway 350 southwest of Ira in southern Scurry County. Two tornadoes were observed in northern Mitchell County just before midnight...along with hail to the size of baseballs. Damage from the tornadoes was limited to downed power poles. As the dryline retreated west across the basin...other storms formed in the western basin. These storms were less organized, but produced dime size hail. Total dollar estimates of the damage are in the 95K to 100K range.

Road signs and four power poles were blown down when a tornado crossed Highway 350.

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

8 minutes of warning. NWS MAF issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:07 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:45 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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:20 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.

Sweetwater/Avenger Field Airport (SWW), 55 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 127 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:13 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

11 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.