F1 tornado in Andrews County, Texas

Tornado May 8, 1997 · Andrews County, Texas

Rating

0.8 mi

Path length

100 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

NOAA recorded where this tornado touched down but not where it lifted, so it appears as a point. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Tornado formed about 4.5 miles west of the intersection of U.S. Highway 385 and FM 1967. Reported by SKYWARN spotter. This storm entered from Gaines County and became a supercell. The storm was moving to the right of the upper flow, partly due to its dependence on the front for a low-level focus.

The wider storm

A very active evening with a cold front sagging into the region and southeast surface winds flowing into the mountains to help initiate deep convection. Dew point temperatures were near 60 degrees with surface temperatures in the upper 80s to lower 90s. The observed MAF sounding from this evening using the best (mean) parcel showed a lifted index of -10 (-8) and a CAPE of 3420 (2710) J/kg with no cap.In Gaines County hail destroyed over 6000 acres of cotton.

Began near Andrews (32.4500, -102.6200).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5612777. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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