Unrated tornado, Ft Stockton, Texas, May 1, 2022

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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. Unratedthis tornado

   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

Unrated

Date

May 1, 2022

Touchdown

6:35 PM CDT (23:35 UTC)

Lifted

6:46 PM CDT (23:46 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

2.5 miles (4.0 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Pecos County

Touchdown point

31.054, -102.667

Lift-off point

31.080, -102.637

Record number

2205011735-01

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MAF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The highest wind the damage implies is 75 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A strong upper level low pressure system moved across Nevada and Utah. Very moist air was across most of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico. High instability and wind shear were also present. An upper level disturbance had moved over the area which provided additional lift. During the afternoon and evening hours, numerous severe thunderstorms developed across Southeast New Mexico and the Trans Pecos and moved across the Stockton Plateau and the Permian Basin. These storms produced multiple tornadoes, very large hail, heavy rainfall leading to localized flooding, and damaging winds.

A thunderstorm produced a tornado to the west of Highway 67 in Pecos County about 17 miles northeast of Fort Stockton. Given the proximity to the highway, many storm spotters were able to identify and photograph this tornado. Based upon eyewitness reports, videos, and radar data, this tornado tracked northeastward for two and a half miles and was estimated to have lasted around ten minutes. Due to the rural nature of this tornado and lack of access to damage indicators, this tornado was rated EF-Unknown with unknown peak wind speeds. The path width is also unknown.

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

6 minutes of warning. NWS MAF issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:29 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:51 UTC and running to 03:00 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:53 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.

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 107 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:35 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.

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 2022 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

5 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.