F0 tornado, Del Rio to Laughlin Afb, Texas, May 27, 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

May 27, 2004

Touchdown

7:19 PM CDT (00:19 UTC)

Path length

0.8 miles (1.3 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Val Verde County

Touchdown point

29.370, -100.780

Lift-off point

29.370, -100.770

Record number

1046

Shortly after the severe winds and hail, the first and most powerful of several tornadoes struck. It was observed by the Val Verde County Emergency Manager as it touched down near 640 pm south of Amistad Lake along Holdup Pass, approximately one mile south of US 90. The tornado, rated F1on the Fujita scale, was about 100 yards wide. It first moved eastward destroying the roof of a home and tossing the debris over one-quarter mile along its path. Occupants of the home had found shelter in their interior closet and were uninjured in spite of considerable damage to the home and the surrounding area. After tracking eastward for one mile the tornado turned 45 degrees to the right and tracked along mostly open country for almost 3 more miles. Along the route it tore down power poles, leveled vegetation, damaged roofs and broke windows. It then lifted and dissipated

The storm system continued to track to the east-southeast, moving over the city of Del Rio. The Del Rio Emergency Manager reported being in his vehicle on F Street (US 90) as a small vortex formed just in front of him. He reported that winds were quite strong, but that little moisture or debris was being blown around. This would have been a small, developing F0 of minimal strength that he reported dissipated within a minute or so. Based on the 40 mph movement of the storm, the time would have been around 6:47 pm.

The next tornado report was received from Laughlin Air Force Base, where the 709 pm observation noted a tornado. This small F0 formed west of the Air Base and track eastward...but dissipated quickly as it approached the Base. No damage was indicated.

Laughlin AFB reported a second tornado overhead at 718 pm. Again, this F0 was small and short-lived as it tracked toward the east. No damage was indicated.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS EWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:08 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:09 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.

Laughlin Afb (DLF), 1 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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

27 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.