F0 tornado, Shackelford County, Texas, March 4, 2004

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

March 4, 2004

Touchdown

12:30 PM CST (18:30 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Shackelford County

Touchdown point

32.650, -99.170

Lift-off point

32.650, -99.170

Record number

781

33 minutes of warning. NWS SJT issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:57 UTC, 33 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:45 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:30 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.

NWS San Angelo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Mar 4, 10:41 AM CST, 1 hour 49 minutes earlier.

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX
1034 AM CST THU MAR  4 2004

.UPDATE...
STRONG/SEVERE LINE OF STORMS FROM COLORAOD CITY TO SAN ANGELO TO
SONORA...MOVING EAST AROUND 40 MPH. TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT ALL
COUNTIES UNTIL 3 PM...AND A FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 4 PM. MOST OF
WEST CENTRAL TEXAS IS IN A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE STORMS. THIS
INCLUDES THE POSSIBILITY OF TORNADOES.

04

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION...
DISCUSSION.  UPPER LOW MOVING ACROSS NORTHERN MEXICO AND THINGS LOOK
TO BE ON TARGET TO GET STORMS FIRING UP. CURRENTLY SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH MAINLY TO OUR NORTH AND WEST THAT INCLUDES A FEW
BIG COUNTRY COUNTIES. DISCUSSIONS WITH SPC INDICATE POSSIBLE TORNADO
WATCH FOR MOST OF OUR CWA.

SINCE THERE HAS NOT BEEN A LOT OF RAIN...AS OVERRUNNING DID NOT
PRODUCE THE ANTICIPATED RAINFALL...WILL LET FLASH FLOOD WATCH DIE A
NATURAL DEATH.  POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAINFALL LIKELY WITH STORMS...
BUT STORMS ARE MOVING AT A GOOD CLIP SO PROLONGED PERIODS OF HEAVY
RAINFALL WILL BE LIMITED.  WILL HAVE TO MONITOR AREAS IF STORMS
TRAIN.

&&

.SJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FLASH FLOOD WATCH TODAY ALL ZONES. TORNADO WATCH ALL COUNTIES UNTIL 3
PM.

&&

04/04

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX
1050 AM CST THU MAR 4 2004

TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139-140-
154-155-168>170-051646-
BROWN TX-CALLAHAN TX-COKE TX-COLEMAN TX-CONCHO TX-CROCKETT TX-
FISHER TX-HASKELL TX-IRION TX-JONES TX-KIMBLE TX-MASON TX-
MCCULLOCH TX-MENARD TX-NOLAN TX-RUNNELS TX-SAN SABA TX-SCHLEICHER TX-
SHACKELFORD TX-STERLING TX-SUTTON TX-TAYLOR TX-THROCKMORTON TX-
TOM GREEN TX-
1050 AM CST THU MAR 4 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...
...THERE IS A HIGH RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER HASKELL AND
THROCKMORTON COUNTIES...AND A MODERATE RISK ACROSS THE REST OF WEST
CENTRAL TEXAS TODAY...
A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM CHILDRESS... TO SWEETWATER TO SAN
ANGELO TO SONORA THIS MORNING WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS THE REST OF WEST
CENTRAL TEXAS THIS AFTERNOON. DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE
LIKELY...INCLUDING THE POSSIBILITY OF TORNADOES. LOCALLY HEAVY
RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES ARE ALSO LIKELY AS THE LINE OF
STORMS MOVES THROUGH. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT TODAY.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY.

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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2004 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

24 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.