Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2003

F1 tornado, Albany to Moran, Texas, May 15, 2003

Name: F1 tornado, Albany to Moran, Texas, May 15, 2003
Start: 2003-05-16T01:59:00.000Z
Location: Albany to Moran, Texas

From Albany to Moran, this F1 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Shackelford County on May 15, 2003, touching down at 8:59 PM CDT and reaching 150 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.

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 mphthis tornado
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: F1
Date: May 15, 2003
Touchdown: 8:59 PM CDT (01:59 UTC)
Path length: 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width: 150 yards (137 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $10,000
County: Shackelford County
Touchdown point: 32.570, -99.500
Lift-off point: 32.570, -99.500
Record number: 1002

What the Weather Service recorded

A warm front was located near Abilene as strong upper level energy moved in from the west. Several thunderstorms developed along and to the north of the front with two storms becoming supercells and producing most of the severe weather that evening. One supercell moved across Fisher county into Jones county with only reports of hail and funnel clouds. Another supercell formed to the south of the first supercell just to the northwest of Abilene. This supercell became the dominant storm just north of Abilene and continued to intensify as it moved across Shackelford county and continued east to near Ranger. One tornado was reported in extreme southern Jones county just north of Abilene and four more tornadoes were confirmed across southern Shackelford county.

This tornado ripped roofs off of barns, destroyed part of a barn, and snapped a few trees.

Two tornadoes paralleled one another. This tornado was the southern tornado track and destroyed oil storage tanks, oil equipment, a small building, and a couple of recreational vehicles. A trained spotter reported that this tornado was multiple vortex. The survey team noted separate damage areas south and southwest of the main track.

This was the northern tornado track of the two that paralleled one another. This tornado snapped and stripped large trees and ripped up some T post fence along it's path. It seems that the tree damage was more severe on this track.

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

The warnings

6 minutes of warning. NWS SJT issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:53 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)	Expired	Product	Office
01:53 UTC	03:00 UTC	Tornado Warning	SJT
02:54 UTC	03:30 UTC	Tornado Warning	SJT
06:56 UTC	08:00 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:32 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 15, 8:00 PM CDT, 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 15, 8:00 PM CDT, 59 minutes before

WEST CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX
800 PM CDT THU MAY 15 2003

AFTER COORDINATION WITH SPC...ISSUED TORNADO WATCH WHICH COVERS MOST
OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS THROUGH MIDNIGHT. SATELLITE AND WSR-88D
IMAGERY INDICATING STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS ARE RAPIDLY DEVELOPING TO
OUR WEST AND MOVING INTO OUR WESTERN ZONES. ENVIRONMENT IS RIPE FOR
TORNADOS WITH CAPES EXCEEDING 3000 J/KG AND IMPRESSIVE HELICITY.

.SJT...TORNADO WATCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT FOR THESE COUNTIES...

BROWN           CALLAHAN        COLEMAN
HASKELL         JONES           MCCULLOCH
SHACKELFORD     TAYLOR          THROCKMORTON
FISHER          NOLAN           SAN SABA
COKE            CONCHO          IRION
RUNNELS         STERLING        TOM GREEN

IN ADDITION...LAKE CAUTION BIG COUNTRY ZONES TONIGHT.

23/HUBER

****  221 PM CDT THU MAY 15 2003 DISCUSSION  ****

SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND
TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY ACROSS BIG COUNTRY. PLEASE REFER TO LATEST DAY
1 SPC OUTLOOK FOR DETAILS ON SEVERE DISCUSSION. MODERATE SEVERE RISK
DEPICTED IN THE OUTLOOK (ACROSS BIG COUNTRY) FROM I-20 NORTHWARD.
SOUTHERN EDGE OF HIGH RISK AREA SLIGHTLY TO THE NORTH OF
HASKELL/THROCKMORTON COUNTIES.

STILL A COMPLEX SCENARIO IN PINPOINTING THE TIMING AND PLACEMENT
OF THUNDERSTORMS. WARM FRONT LIFTING NORTH INTO BIG COUNTRY THIS
AFTERNOON. FRONT SHOULD BE LOCATED VICINITY OF NORTHERN BIG COUNTRY
OR NEAR RED RIVER BY LATE AFTERNOON. POSITION OF FRONT WILL
DETERMINE WHERE THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP THIS EVENING. STORM
DEVELOPMENT OR MOVEMENT INTO BIG COUNTRY MAY HOLD OFF UNTIL LATE
THIS EVENING. DRYLINE NEAR THE TX/NM BORDER TO MIX EASTWARD THIS
AFTERNOON INTO WESTERN TX...STAYING WEST OF OUR COUNTIES. COMPACT
UPPER LOW TO TRACK ACROSS NORTHERN NM THIS AFTERNOON INTO TX
PANHANDLE TONIGHT...CONTINUING INTO CENTRAL OK FRIDAY. DRYLINE TO
BEGIN A WESTWARD RETREAT EARLY TONIGHT BEFORE WEAK PACIFIC FRONT
OVERTAKES IT AND MOVES EAST INTO WEST CENTRAL TX OVERNIGHT. AS UPPER
LOW APPROACHES...STRONG LIFT AND INSTABILITY ALONG WITH VERTICAL
SHEAR OVER BIG COUNTRY INDICATE POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SEVERE
EVENT WITH ISOLATED TORNADOES...VERY LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.
STRONG CAP FARTHER SOUTH TO INHIBIT ANY STORM DEVELOPMENT THIS
AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. STORMS ALSO EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATE
AFTERNOON/EVENING ALONG NORTHERN PART OF DRYLINE TO THE NW OF OUR
COUNTIES. FOR TONIGHT... GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY...
IMPRESSIVE LIFT...AND LOW LEVEL JET SETUP ALONG WITH THETA E
RIDGE...COULD SEE SOUTHWARD DEVELOPMENT AS PACIFIC FRONT OVERTAKES
DRYLINE. COULD HAVE SQUALL LINE MOVE ACROSS BIG COUNTRY...POSSIBLY
EXTENDING OR DEVELOPING FARTHER SOUTH. WILL CARRY THE GOING POPS AND
SEVERE WORDING IN NEXT SCHEDULED ZONE PACKAGE.

WILL RETAIN POPS IN OUR EASTERN COUNTIES FRIDAY. FRONT TO MOVE INTO
THAT AREA LATE MORNING OR EARLY AFTERNOON. DRY AND A LITTLE COOLER
SATURDAY AS UPPER LOW MOVES AWAY FROM OUR REGION. UPPER RIDGE TO
BUILD INTO SOUTHERN/CENTRAL PLAINS OVER WEEKEND INTO MONDAY BEFORE
FLATTENING TUESDAY. DRY WITH TEMPERATURES WARMING TO WELL ABOVE
NORMAL AGAIN DURING THIS TIME FRAME.

AN UPPER TROUGH IS PROGGED TO MOVE FROM NORTHERN PLAINS INTO UPPER
MIDWEST AND GREAT LAKES TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY. TRAILING PORTION OF
ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT PROGGED TO DROP SOUTH ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TX
BY TUESDAY. LATEST GFS IS STRONGER WITH THIS FRONT. GFS ALSO HAS
WEAK SHORTWAVES MOVING INTO REGION..SUGGESTS ISENTROPIC LIFT AND
GENERATES PRECIPITATION INTO NORTHERN HALF OF OUR COUNTIES TUESDAY
INTO WEDNESDAY. WILL LOWER TEMPERATURES MIDWEEK AND CARRY MORE CLOUD
COVER...BUT PREFER TO HOLD OFF POPS AND AWAIT ANOTHER MODEL RUN TO
CHECK FOR CONSISTENCY.

PRELIMINARY CCF
ABI 068/092/059/086/062 51000
SJT 071/095/060/088/062 30000
JCT 072/092/062/089/061 32000

.SJT...CAUTION ADVISED ON AREA LAKES BIG COUNTRY ZONES TONIGHT

19

Hazardous weather outlook, May 15, 2:30 PM CDT, 6 hours 29 minutes before

TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139-140-
154-155-168>170-161930-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX
230 PM CDT THU MAY 15 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...

A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE BIG
COUNTRY...WITH ONLY A SLIGHT RISK FOR THE REST OF THE AREA. THE
FURTHER NORTH THE BETTER THE CHANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER. VERY LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE EXPECTED WITH THESE
STORMS. EXPECT AN AREA OF STORMS TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE PANHANDLE TO
NEAR MIDLAND LATE THIS AFTERNOON BEFORE SLIDING EAST THROUGH THE BIG
COUNTRY THIS EVENING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

ISOLATED STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO LINGER INTO FRIDAY MORNING IN THE
EAST...WITH A FEW OF THOSE POSSIBLY SEVERE. OTHERWISE...NO OTHER
SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY FOR THE BIG COUNTRY AND MAY BE
NECESSARY FOR THE REST OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS TONIGHT.

24

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

2.0 hours before the tornado, 209 km from the path. May 16, 2003.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 2441 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -99 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 3452 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 748 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 104 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 227 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.5
Supercell composite: 10.5
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

10.0 hours after it, 209 km from the path. May 16, 2003.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 1766 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -112 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 2227 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 658 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 433 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 436 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.6
Supercell composite: 22.4
0-3 km lapse rate: 4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Abilene (ABI), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)
00:52 UTC	87	65	120° 25 kt	30	1002
01:36 UTC	86	66.2	130° 28 kt	38	1001
01:37 UTC	86	48.2	130° 26 kt	38	1001
01:39 UTC	86	48.2	130° 28 kt	38	1001
01:43 UTC	86	48.2	140° 25 kt	35	1000.7
01:52 UTC	86	48	160° 24 kt	37	1001.4
02:20 UTC	84.2	68	40° 7 kt		1004.7
02:52 UTC	81	70	80° 11 kt	19	1004.4
03:52 UTC	83	67	120° 19 kt		1004.1

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

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2003 tornado in Texas Every tornado in Texas since 1950 Warnings in force in Texas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 15, 2003

46 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 15	5:10 PM EDT	F1	Knox, TN	2.5	50	$150,000
May 15	4:12 PM CDT	F0	Cimarron, OK	0.1	100
May 15	5:15 PM EDT	F1	Knox, TN	1.5	50	$200,000
May 15	4:25 PM CDT	F1	Cimarron, OK	5.0	200	$40,000
May 15	3:39 PM MDT	F2	Baca, CO	5.0	200	$120,000
May 15	3:42 PM MDT	F0	Kiowa, CO	1.0	75
May 15	4:45 PM CDT	F0	Cimarron, OK	0.1	50
May 15	6:20 PM EDT	F1	Lincoln, NC	3.0	100	$50,000
May 15	5:36 PM CDT	F1	Dallam, TX	10.0	1,320	$30,000
May 15	5:41 PM CDT	F0	Dallam, TX	1.0	500	$10,000
May 15	6:46 PM CDT	F0	Texas, OK	0.1	50
May 15	7:20 PM CDT	F0	Texas, OK	0.5	30
May 15	7:29 PM CDT	F2	Seward, KS	2.5	100	$6.0 million
May 15	7:35 PM CDT	F0	Texas, OK	0.5	20	$10,000
May 15	7:38 PM CDT	F0	Sherman, TX	1.0	50
May 15	7:40 PM CDT	F2	Seward, KS	4.9	100	$150,000
May 15	7:45 PM CDT	F0	Texas, OK	0.3	100	$20,000
May 15	7:58 PM CDT	F0	Moore, TX	6.0	200
May 15	8:15 PM CDT	F0	Sherman, TX	0.1	50
May 15	8:15 PM CDT	F0	Sherman, TX	0.1	20
May 15	8:30 PM CDT	F0	Gray, TX	0.1	40
May 15	8:31 PM CDT	F0	Sherman, TX	0.3	50
May 15	8:33 PM CDT	F1	Texas, OK	2.0	30	$30,000
May 15	8:37 PM CDT	F0	Donley, TX	0.5	50
May 15	8:42 PM CDT	F0	Jones, TX	0.3	20	$1,000
May 15	8:45 PM CDT	F0	Texas, OK	1.0	40
May 15	8:59 PM CDT	F0	Donley, TX	0.1	20
May 15	9:00 PM CDT	F0	Beaver, OK	0.8	20
May 15	9:10 PM CDT	F1	Meade, KS	2.0	100	$300,000
May 15	9:23 PM CDT	F0	Hutchinson, TX	2.0	30
May 15	9:25 PM CDT	F2	Shackelford, TX	1.5	800	$50,000
May 15	9:25 PM CDT	F2	Shackelford, TX	1.5	450	$3,000
May 15	9:30 PM CDT	F2	Seward, KS	2.5	100	$8.0 million
May 15	9:43 PM CDT	F1	Wheeler, TX	18.0	100	$150,000
May 15	9:44 PM CDT	F0	Carson, TX	0.1	20
May 15	9:45 PM CDT	F1	Meade, KS	1.0	50	$50,000
May 15	10:00 PM CDT	F0	Eastland, TX	12.0	300	$100,000
May 15	10:10 PM CDT	F0	Shackelford, TX	1.0	50
May 15	10:12 PM CDT	F1	Shackelford, TX	1.0	150
May 15	10:30 PM CDT	F0	Wheeler, TX	0.5	50
May 15	10:36 PM CDT	F0	Clark, KS	1.3	100
May 15	10:53 PM CDT	F2	Wheeler, TX to OK	15.5	1,760	$270,000
May 15	11:13 PM CDT	F0	Eastland, TX	0.1	50
May 15	11:21 PM CDT	F0	Wheeler, TX	0.1	50
May 15	11:42 PM CDT	F0	Ford, KS	0.8	50
May 15	11:58 PM CDT	F1	Ford, KS	2.0	50

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.