Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2007

EF0 tornado, Maverick, Texas, May 2, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Runnels County on May 2, 2007, touching down at 2:08 PM CDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $8,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
May 2, 2007
Touchdown
2:08 PM CDT (19:08 UTC)
Lifted
2:11 PM CDT (19:11 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
0.5 miles (0.7 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$8,000
County
Runnels County
Touchdown point
31.830, -100.190
Lift-off point
31.835, -100.185
Record number
0705021308-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A potent upper level system moved across Texas beginning in the late morning and continued into the afternoon. This produced a Quasilinear Convective System or Line Echo Wave Pattern (LEWP) that produced widespread damaging winds and a few isolated tornadoes. South of the line, more classic supercell structure was noted with thunderstorms across the Edwards Plateau and the Northwest Hill County, however no tornadoes were reported with these thunderstorms as the storms moved over very sparsely populated areas.

A tornado briefly touched down and destroyed a barn. No other damage was noted.

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

The warnings

26 minutes of warning. NWS SJT issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:42 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:51 UTC and running to 23:53 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:00 UTC02:48 UTCFlash Flood WatchSJT
17:49 UTC18:45 UTCTornado WarningSJT
17:51 UTC23:53 UTCTornado WatchSJT
18:42 UTC19:30 UTCTornado WarningSJT
19:09 UTC19:45 UTCTornado WarningSJT
19:28 UTC20:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
19:41 UTC20:15 UTCTornado WarningSJT
19:54 UTC20:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
20:11 UTC20:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:17 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 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.

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 12:00Z

7.1 hours before the tornado, 190 km from the path. May 2, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 2007-05-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 948 joules per kilogram, CIN -48, lifted condensation level 909 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 2007-05-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 13 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 47 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
948 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-48 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1281 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
909 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
162 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 00:00Z

4.9 hours after it, 190 km from the path. May 3, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 2007-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 525 joules per kilogram, CIN -159, lifted condensation level 953 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 2007-05-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 4 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
525 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-159 J/kg
Surface CAPE
907 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
953 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
24 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

San Angelo/Mathis (SJT), 61 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
17:51 UTC736380° 10 kt1010.2
18:51 UTC6155340° 21 kt361011.9-RA
18:58 UTC5955.4300° 22 kt321013.2TSRA BR
19:01 UTC5955.4300° 27 kt311012.9+TSRA BR
19:14 UTC5955.4330° 24 kt321012.2+TSRA BR
19:20 UTC5957.2320° 16 kt321012.5+TSRA BR
19:23 UTC60.857.2330° 17 kt291012.5+TSRA BR
19:35 UTC60.857.210° 24 kt1010.8+TSRA BR
19:42 UTC60.857.220° 23 kt301009.8-TSRA BR
19:51 UTC6157360° 15 kt291010.5-RA
20:51 UTC635780° 9 kt1009.5

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

The radar

The San Angelo radar (KSJT), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:08 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
18:08 UTCTSTM WND DMGWater ValleyTom Green, TXROOFS BLOWN OFF HOUSES.
18:28 UTCTSTM WND GST 60Water ValleyTom Green, TXWIND DAMAGE WITH TREES DOWN AND NUMEROUS BARNS DESTROYED AND SOME MINOR DAMAGE TO HOMES.
18:28 UTCTSTM WND GST 60Water ValleyTom Green, TXWIND DAMAGE WITH TREES DOWN AND SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE.
18:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 603 N Grape CreekTom Green, TX
18:43 UTCTSTM WND GST 753 N Grape CreekTom Green, TX
18:46 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 N Grape CreekTom Green, TXWIND DAMAGE TO THE ROOF OF GRAPE CREEK MIDDLE SCHOOL
18:46 UTCTORNADO3 Sw TennysonCoke, TX
19:06 UTCTSTM WND GST 602 S BronteCoke, TX
19:08 UTCTSTM WND DMGMaverickRunnels, TXBARN DESTROYED
19:08 UTCTSTM WND GST 60MilesRunnels, TX
19:08 UTCTORNADOMaverickRunnels, TXTORNADO DESTROYED A BARN PICTURES TAKEN
19:16 UTCTSTM WND GST 701 N TennysonCoke, TX
19:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ssw WintersRunnels, TXSEVERAL TELEPHONE POLES DOWN
19:39 UTCHAIL 0.88Paint RockConcho, TX
19:51 UTCTSTM WND GST 704 N BallingerRunnels, TX

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 2, 2007

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 212:20 PM CDTEF0Sterling, TX0.620
May 21:35 PM CDTEF0Coke, TX6.450
May 212:48 PM MDTEF0Doña Ana, NM8.4150
May 21:45 PM MDTEF0Otero, NM0.620
May 23:20 PM CDTEF1Coleman, TX5.7100$100,000
May 23:48 PM CDTEF1Brown, TX4.8110$10,000
May 25:11 PM CDTEF0Johnson, TX0.230

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.