F2 tornado in Loving County, Texas

The Reeves County tornado crossed the Pecos River and headed north across open country. Soon after it crossed the river, the tornado hit some oil field supplies and caused some damage. The only oil pumpjack in the path was overturned. Engineers at a pumpjack manufacturer estimated winds in the range of 110-130 mph to knock over this large piece of equipment. Vegetation mainly consisted of brush less than 4 feet tall with disturbances ranging from snapped or flattened to bent more than 45 degrees. The small foliage on these plants was generally still present, but wind-torn.

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.