Unrated tornado, Silverton to Caprock Canyons State Park, Texas, June 2, 2024

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

June 2, 2024

Touchdown

8:10 PM CDT (01:10 UTC)

Lifted

8:34 PM CDT (01:34 UTC)

On the ground

24 minutes

Path length

8.7 miles (14.0 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Briscoe County

Touchdown point

34.576, -101.284

Lift-off point

34.522, -101.146

Record number

2406021910-01

The afternoon of the second brought an intense supercell thunderstorm to the south-central Texas Panhandle. The storm was spawned along a dryline over the southwest Texas Panhandle late in the afternoon, fueled by temperatures rising into the 90s. Moisture initially was on the moderate side, but that quickly changed, due to an outflow boundary advancing westward across the Interstate 27 corridor. East of the outflow boundary, temperatures were a little cooler, but the air was very moist due to a thunderstorm complex that moved across the eastern Texas Panhandle, western Oklahoma, and much of North Texas earlier in the day. The outflow boundary did trigger a few morning and early afternoon thunderstorms from near Childress (Childress County) to south of Paducah (Cottle County) to northeast of Aspermont (Stonewall County). Some of these storms were on the strong side and produced brief torrential rainfall. Thunderstorms along the dryline were initially not well organized, but quickly changed as they encountered the outflow boundary. The increased moisture and instability, in combination with stout southeasterly upslope winds caused the thunderstorms to quickly organize and strengthen. The dominant storm across the southern Texas Panhandle quickly intensified near Happy (Swisher County) with strong mid-level rotation developing. The cyclonic rotation strengthened and lowered with time as the storm tracked more easterly, then southeasterly. Extreme lift within the storm generated giant hail, while a wall cloud developed, lowered, and produced a tornado after passing very close to Vigo Park (Swisher County). Gargantuan hail fell from the storm, including a 7.02 inch diameter stone which was observed a few miles west-northwest of Vigo Park. This hailstone was confirmed as a new record for the largest diameter hailstone in Texas, surpassing the old record which was 6.416 inches in Hondo (Medina County) in 2021. After becoming tornadic, the storm continued to move southeastward, passing several miles to the north and northeast of Silverton (Briscoe County). The first tornado gradually dissipated, but another tornado formed as this was occurring, with two tornadoes in contact with the ground for roughly four to five minutes. Thereafter, the newly formed tornado became the dominant tornado and persisted another 20 minutes before dissipating east of Texas Highway 207 and north of Texas Highway 256. The tornado remained in open land and inflicted no known damage. The storm did continue to drop large hail as it moved near Caprock Canyons State Park (Briscoe County), but quickly diminished in intensity during the late evening hours.

Two tornadoes occurred simultaneously in northern Briscoe County. This is the location of the first tornado that was reported. Early on the evening of June second, a supercell thunderstorm developed in far northern Swisher County. The storm crossed an outflow boundary as it moved east across northern and eastern Swisher County resulting in increasing rotation and development of a low-level mesocyclone. Storm chasers reported a tornado as the storm crossed into western Briscoe County. As this tornado was dissipating by around 1910 CST, another tornado began developing on the western flank of the first, becoming the dominant tornado by roughly 1914 CST. For four to five minutes both tornadoes appeared to be in contact with the ground simultaneously. The second tornado remained over open terrain to the east of County Road 207 and Texas State Highway 86 before dissipating just east of the Caprock Escarpment to the northeast of Silverton by 1934 CST.

Two tornadoes occurred simultaneously in northern Briscoe County. This is the location of the second tornado that was reported. Early on the evening of June second, a supercell thunderstorm developed in far northern Swisher County. The storm crossed an outflow boundary as it moved east across northern and eastern Swisher County resulting in increasing rotation and development of a low-level mesocyclone. Storm chasers reported a tornado as the storm crossed into western Briscoe County. As this tornado was dissipating by around 1910 CST, another tornado began developing on the western flank of the first, becoming the dominant tornado by roughly 1914 CST. For four to five minutes both tornadoes appeared to be in contact with the ground simultaneously. The second tornado remained over open terrain to the east of County Road 207 and Texas State Highway 86 before dissipating just east of the Caprock Escarpment to the northeast of Silverton by 1934 CST.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS LUB issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:57 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:53 UTC and running to 03:31 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:59 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 Amarillo radar (KAMA), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:10 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 2024 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.