Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2002
F0 tornado, Abilene, Texas, May 7, 2002
This F0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Taylor County on May 7, 2002, touching down at 9:45 PM CDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1,000 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.
F040 to 72 mphthis tornado
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 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.
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
- F0
- Date
- May 7, 2002
- Touchdown
- 9:45 PM CDT (02:45 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.3 km)
- Path width
- 20 yards (18 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $1,000
- County
- Taylor County
- Touchdown point
- 32.450, -99.730
- Lift-off point
- 32.450, -99.730
- Record number
- 658
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms moved across the big country. There were three reports of tornadoes with damage only to utility poles. Hail up to baseball size was also reported with a few of these storms. Two severe thunderstorms about an hour apart moved along the same path in Nolan county.
A brief tornado blew down a few power poles on the north side of Abilene.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
30 minutes of warning. NWS SJT issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:15 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:15 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01:56 UTC | 03:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SJT |
| 02:15 UTC | 03:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | SJT |
| 03:09 UTC | 04:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | SJT |
| 03:10 UTC | 04:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | SJT |
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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:10 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 San Angelo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 7, 2:27 PM CDT, 7 hours 18 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 7, 2:27 PM CDT, 7 hours 18 minutes before
WEST CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 227 PM CDT TUE MAY 7 2002 MORE POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE DRYLINE THIS EVENING. DENSE CIRRUS CANOPY...WHICH LIMITED SURFACE HEATING YESTERDAY...HAS SHIFTED EAST OF THE FORECAST AREA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. COMBO OF STRONG HEATING AND MID-UPPER 60S DEWPOINTS PUSHING CAPE VALUES INTO THE 2500 TO 3000 J/KG RANGE ACROSS THE CONCHO VALLEY AND WESTERN BIG COUNTRY. AS OF 1845Z...DRYLINE HAS PUSHED THROUGH MIDLAND AND FORT STOCKTON...SO MAKING EASTWARD PROGRESS. PER MSAS...BETTER LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE OCCURRING NEAR THE PECOS RIVER IN FAR WESTERN CROCKETT COUNTY. SURMISE STORMS COULD INITIATE HERE. WEAK SHORTWAVE ENERGY IN SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT EXPECTED TO INTERSECT THE DRYLINE BETWEEN 00Z-06Z...AIDING THE CAUSE. SO PARAMETERS COMING TOGETHER. HOWEVER...THE CAP REMAINS STRONG WITH CIN VALUES IN EXCESS OF 140 J/KG. THUS...BELIEVE ISOLATED THUNDER WILL HOLD OFF UNTIL AT LEAST 6 PM...THEN PERSIST THROUGH ABOUT 10 PM. STAY TUNED. THE DRYLINE RETREATS WEST OF THE FORECAST AREA OVERNIGHT...BUT DOESN/T STRAY TOO FAR. LOW CLOUDS LIKELY TO SPREAD OVER THE HEARTLAND AND NORTHWEST HILL COUNTRY LATE TONIGHT. DRYLINE MIXES THROUGH ALL BUT THE FAR EASTERN COUNTIES ON WEDNESDAY...BRINGING WARM AND BREEZY CONDITIONS. COUPLE OF COLD FRONTS...WITH UPPER SUPPORT...TO BRING DECENT RAIN CHANCES TO WEST CENTRAL TEXAS THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY...THEN AGAIN ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY. INITIAL FRONT PULLS UP STATIONARY SOUTH OF THE FORECAST AREA THURSDAY AFTERNOON. STRONG LOW LEVEL JET THEN PUMPS COPIOUS MOISTURE OVER THE STALLED BOUNDARY...GENERATING SCATTERED ELEVATED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MAINLY THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN COUNTIES THURSDAY NIGHT. BOUNDARY THEN LIFTS NORTH INTO THE CONCHO VALLEY AND HEARTLAND BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON...TOUCHING OFF ANOTHER ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS. STORMS TO LINGER OVER THE BIG COUNTRY FRIDAY NIGHT...BEFORE THE WARM FRONT LIFTS NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA. NEXT OF KIN ARRIVES SUNDAY NIGHT...WITH MORE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ALONG...NEAR THE BOUNDARY MONDAY AND TUESDAY. ACTIVE MID MAY WEATHER PATTERN MATERIALIZING...RIGHT ON SCHEDULE. SATURDAY AND SUNDAY LOOK WARM AND HUMID IN CAPPED WARM SECTOR. PRELIM CCF... ABI 070/093/061/077 100 SJT 071/094/063/085 100 JCT 071/090/064/086 110 .SJT...NONE. 17
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.
Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 00:00Z
2.8 hours before the tornado, 232 km from the path. May 8, 2002.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2532 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -116 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3683 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1218 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 43 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 200 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 330 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.8
- Supercell composite
- 20.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.8 K/km
Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z
9.2 hours after it, 232 km from the path. May 8, 2002.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1115 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -155 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1160 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 645 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 196 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 186 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 1.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.0 K/km
The surface observations
Abilene (ABI), 6 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:52 UTC | 86 | 66 | 160° 13 kt | 1007.1 | ||
| 01:52 UTC | 83 | 66 | 150° 19 kt | 23 | 1007.5 | |
| 02:28 UTC | 75.2 | 62.6 | 300° 21 kt | 31 | 1010.5 | |
| 02:31 UTC | 73.4 | 62.6 | 300° 15 kt | 31 | 1010.5 | TS |
| 02:43 UTC | 71.6 | 62.6 | 330° 15 kt | 1010.2 | TS | |
| 02:52 UTC | 72 | 61 | 360° 13 kt | 1010.5 | TS | |
| 03:52 UTC | 71 | 61 | 100° 10 kt | 1010.2 | TS | |
| 03:56 UTC | 71.6 | 60.8 | 110° 12 kt | 1010.2 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
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 7, 2002
20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 7 | 2:20 AM CDT | F0 | Calhoun, IL | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| May 7 | 5:53 PM CDT | F2 | Ford, KS | 1.9 | 300 | $150,000 | ||
| May 7 | 5:58 PM CDT | F3 | Ford, KS | 4.0 | 900 | |||
| May 7 | 6:10 PM CDT | F1 | Edwards, KS | 2.0 | 225 | |||
| May 7 | 6:40 PM CDT | F1 | Ford, KS | 1.7 | 75 | |||
| May 7 | 6:47 PM CDT | F3 | Ford, KS | 8.5 | 1,800 | |||
| May 7 | 6:50 PM CDT | F1 | Edwards, KS | 5.5 | 200 | |||
| May 7 | 6:51 PM CDT | F3 | Kiowa, KS | 10.0 | 600 | 1 | $800,000 | |
| May 7 | 7:00 PM CDT | F0 | Ford, KS | 4.9 | 200 | |||
| May 7 | 7:20 PM CDT | F0 | Ford, KS | 2.2 | 75 | |||
| May 7 | 7:25 PM CDT | F2 | Kiowa, KS | 19.6 | 900 | $500,000 | ||
| May 7 | 7:58 PM CDT | F0 | Pratt, KS | 4.0 | 50 | |||
| May 7 | 8:14 PM CDT | F1 | Pratt, KS | 7.7 | 150 | |||
| May 7 | 8:34 PM CDT | F2 | Pratt, KS | 22.0 | 1,800 | $20 million | ||
| May 7 | 8:50 PM CDT | F0 | Nolan, TX | 0.5 | 20 | $1,000 | ||
| May 7 | 9:30 PM CDT | F0 | Kingman, KS | 0.5 | 110 | |||
| May 7 | 9:45 PM CDT | F0 | Jones, TX | 0.2 | 20 | $1,000 | ||
| May 7 | 11:38 PM CDT | F0 | Kingman, KS | 0.2 | 110 | |||
| May 7 | 11:55 PM CDT | F0 | Kingman, KS | 0.3 | 110 | |||
| May 7 | 12:11 AM CDT | F0 | Kingman, KS | 0.3 | 110 |
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.