NWS releases tornado report for Coke County twisters
SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — The residents of Coke County are still recovering after being battered by a supercell thunderstorm on May 3. But would you be surprised to learn that more than one tornado touched down?
The Tornado Report
According to a public information statement released by the National Weather Service of San Angelo, the supercell that hung over Coke County that fateful Friday actually produced two twisters. The twin tornadoes wreaked havoc in Robert Lee and Silver, two communities 18 minutes away from one another, with just 25 minutes between the end of the first twister and the start of the second.
The first tornado, which had an EF2 rating, touched down 3 miles south-southwest of Silver at 3:40 p.m. It spanned 125 yards and traveled 4.54 miles, tearing through the countryside with 125 mph wind speeds.
The Silver tornado damaged a private property just north of FM 2029, ripping off the roof of a ranch house but leaving the walls standing. It also destroyed a metal barn and threw building material a considerable distance away from the house and barn.
The tornado lifted 7 miles south-southwest of Silver at 3:55 p.m. It wouldn’t be the end of Coke County’s twister troubles, however.
The second tornado, rated at EF1, hit the ground at 4:20 p.m. 5 miles west-southwest of Robert Lee. It was 700 yards wide and traveled a total distance of 12.96 miles before subsiding. While active, the tornado clocked wind speeds of up to 110 mph.
The Robert Lee twister damaged the roof of a home along Highway 208 and snapped some large tree limbs as it moved southeast. Following this, the tornado then northeast and lifted the roof off a concrete building on Valley View Road. It then moved back toward the northwest before weakening and subsiding south of Robert Lee.
A Meteorologist’s Perspective
Though the severe thunderstorm has long since dissipated, the damage it caused may leave some Concho Valley residents wondering how the tornadoes compared to those normally expected for the region. Thankfully, the Enhanced Fujita Scale — a system “used to assign a tornado a ‘rating’ based on estimated wind speeds and related damage,” according to the National Weather Service — can be used to shed some light on the matter.
Mike Castillo, warning coordination meteorologist for NWS San Angelo, stated that the tornadoes had EF ratings typical for those commonly seen in the West Texas region. The Silver twister was on the stronger end of this range, however.
“Anything rated EF2 or higher is considered a strong tornado,” Castillo said. “Typically for our area, we generally see EF0, EF1 and EF2 tornadoes.”
Noting that this year’s severe weather season hasn’t left Texas just yet, Castillo advised residents to have multiple ways to receive updates from the National Weather Service during severe weather situations.
“We tell people that they need to be able to receive our warning information in different ways,” Castillo said. “Whether it’s on cell phone, radio, internet or social media, we always stress people to be able to receive our warnings in more than one way. We’re still in severe weather season, so we try to stress that to the public.”
Castillo stated that tornado season usually lasts from February to May in West Texas. It’s still possible to see tornadoes outside of this time period, though.
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