Thunderstorm Wind — Bexar, Texas

2002-03-19 · near Countywide, Bexar, Texas

Event narrative

High winds, causing spotty damage over the western third of Bexar County, and nearly continuous damage over the eastern two-thirds of the county, caused widespread destruction of trees and limbs. The high winds damaged roofs, propelled hail into homes and cars, and knocked over power poles. About ten persons were injured by the flying debris. The greatest devastation was in southwest Bexar County just northeast of the town of Lytle. Emergency management and Red Cross officials estimated 50 mobile homes and houses severely damaged or destroyed, with minor damage to another 100 mobile homes and houses. In addition to the widespread downburst damage, evidence was found of small and short-lived tornadoes. It was very difficult to separate the widespread downburst-wind damage from the tornado damage. The main clues were that the downburst damage was almost exclusively along a southwest to northeast path and showed a consistent and gradual gradient of damage levels from the worst of the damage to the least of the damage. The tornado damage indicated completely different direction of movement and very strong, pronounced gradients of damage. Often a structure would be completely destroyed, with structures to the right and left of it nearly untouched.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (29.4500, -98.5000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5285452. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.