F2 tornado in Reeves County, Texas

This tornado formed from a very young cell that became a small classic supercell very quickly. The cell was on the southern end of a small cluster of cells. The tornado formed near the Pecos River in extreme eastern Reeves County and crossed into western Loving County. As the tornado crossed the river the largest vegetation in the area, lines of Salt Cedar trees were snapped or uprooted. Many of these trees were well established and approximately 25-30 feet tall. The funnel exhibited a condensation funnel to the ground for much of its life.

A classic severe weather setup was taking place on this day and would continue into the next day. A strong upper level low pressure system was centered near Las Vegas, NV and was moving slowly eastward toward the area. Surface winds were backed to the southeast with rich moisture.One item of interest was the early start time of the storms with the first tornado by 1130 am CDT...only about 10 am local sun time. With the mid-level flow blowing parallel to the orientation of multicell complexes were oriented, training of storms was common over several parts of the region. In the evening tornadoes and hail events subsided and flash flooding began to take control.