EF2 Tornado — Tom Green, Texas

2019-05-18 · near Tankersly Arpt, Tom Green, Texas

Event narrative

An EF-2 Tornado began in Dove Creek, about 16 miles southwest of San Angelo. This tornado removed the roofs from several homes and caused some of the outer walls to collapse. It blew out a wall of a large metal building at the Boys Ranch, destroyed several outbuildings and continued to damage trees as it crossed over Twin Buttes Reservoir. Then the tornado entered the Southland Subdivision, located about 5.5 miles southwest of San Angelo where the tornado broadened to nearly a mile wide as it weakened. It damaged shingles on many roofs and a chimney, it toppled fences, broke windows, uprooted some trees and broke many tree limbs across the Southland Subdivision. The tornado continued to cause similar damage as it moved northeast into the College Hills Subdivision. The tornado then began to decrease in width and increase in strength near Angelo State University (ASU). The tornado damaged roofs, broke a large church window, and destroyed a gasoline canopy, fences and trees near ASU. This tornado even tore HVAC Units from the MHMR Building near downtown San Angelo. The twister crossed Loop 306 near Main Street and intensified to an EF-2 as it struck the Bradford Elementary Subdivision in the north part of San Angelo. It destroyed 39 homes and damaged about 90 homes as it removed residential roofs and collapsed outer walls. The strong tornado threw an automobile into a residence and snapped tree trunks. Two injuries were reported.

Wider weather episode

A highly sheared environment coupled with a very unstable airmass resulted in the development of strong tornadoes during the early morning hours of May 18. At least seven of the eight tornadoes damaged or destroyed several hundred homes across portions of West Central Texas. One of the supercells produced four long track strong tornadoes.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.3230, -100.6501)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 827076. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.