May 7th, 2019 Severe Weather Event

Tornadoes:

7 confirmed tornadoes touched down in the Texas Panhandle on May 7th. At this time, all tornadoes were rated EF0. It is important to note that the Enhanced Fujita scale is a damage scale - if a tornado encounters no sturdy well built structures, a low rating will be issued. Finally, it should be noted that a couple persistent tornado myths, that tornadoes cannot cross river valleys or that tornadoes cannot form in river valleys, were conclusively shown in this event to have no factual basis. The Canadian River Valley tornado formed and traveled entirely within the valley. The Wayside tornado crossed Palo Duro Canyon. If you think your town is protected because it is in a valley, on top of a hill, near a hill, in a small depression, etc., it is not. This, however, is no reason to live in fear - it only takes a few minutes to prepare.

Tornado #1 - Southeast of Spearman Hansford County Date May 7th, 2019 Time (CDT) 3:42 pm - 3:49 pm EF Rating EF0 Est. Peak Winds 70 mph Path Length 1.66 miles Max Width 100.0 yards Injuries/Deaths 0 Summary: No damage was observed. Tornado remained in open field which was inaccessible to survey team. Position estimated by eye witness accounts. Track Map

Tornado #2 - Borger Hutchinson County Date May 7th, 2019 Time (CDT) 4:49 pm EF Rating EF0 Est. Peak Winds 60 mph Path Length 0.07 miles Max Width 30.0 yards Injuries/Deaths 0 Summary: This brief tornado was reported by storm chasers to be rain wrapped a few miles north of Borger. In this area, there was minor damage to homes, with roof and shingle damage noted. Track Map - Look Northwest of the Airport

Tornado #3 - North of Perryton Ochiltree County Date May 7th, 2019 Time (CDT) 4:50 pm EF Rating EF0 Est. Peak Winds 70 mph Path Length 0.03 miles Max Width 20.0 yards Injuries/Deaths 0 Summary: A brief tornado was capture on camera by a broadcast media crew about 6 miles north of Perryton. The tornado was extremely brief and moved across an open field. Track Map

Tornado #4 - Canadian River Valley Hutchinson County Date May 7th, 2019 Time (CDT) 5:16 pm - 5:19 pm EF Rating EF0 Est. Peak Winds 75 mph Path Length 5.42 miles Max Width 50.0 yards Injuries/Deaths 0 Summary: A cone tornado was observed for three minutes across open fields of the Canadian River valley in northeastern Hutchinson County. Track Map

Tornado #5 - Near Wayside (PRELIMINARY INFORMATION) Armstrong County Date May 7th, 2019 Time (CDT) 6:27 pm - 6:35 pm EF Rating EF0 Est. Peak Winds 80 mph Path Length 11.6 miles Max Width 100.0 yards Injuries/Deaths 0 Summary: Storm spotters and chasers reported that this tornado crossed into Armstrong County near the county line and State Highway 207. This tornado's details, including location, time, and path length will undergo further revision. Track Map

Tornado #6 - Near Alanreed Donley County Date May 7th, 2019 Time (CDT) 7:48 pm - 7:54 pm EF Rating EF0 Est. Peak Winds 80 mph Path Length 4.28 miles Max Width 500.0 yards Injuries/Deaths 0 Summary: This tornado was observed by storm chasers and spotters near the city of Alanreed. Damage to trees and barns were observed by the damage survey crew. Track Map

Tornado #7 - West of Lipscomb Lipscomb County Date May 7th, 2019 Time (CDT) 6:56 pm - 6:56 pm EF Rating EF0 Est. Peak Winds 60 mph Path Length 0.25 miles Max Width 20.0 yards Injuries/Deaths 0 Summary: This brief tornado was observed by a trained spotter 7 miles west of Lipscomb. No damage was reported.  Track Map

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph

Satellite

One minute temporal resolution data from GOES-16, fully operational since December 2017, provided forecasters with an additional tool to monitor the progress of the overall weather system that helped kick off this severe weather event, assess the relative strength of storms, and in many cases anticipate which were growing stronger before an increase in strength was fully apparent on radar. GOES-16 has multiple improvements over predecessor satellites that were useful during this event - higher spatial resolution, higher temporal resolution, lightning detection, additional water vapor channels, and additional infrared channels.

Photos & Video

Thanks to everyone who shared their photos with us! No guarantees it will end up on this page, but if you have a photo you'd like to share, send it to us on our Facebook page (facebook.com/nwsamarillo), our Twitter page (twitter.com/nwsamarillo), or our email (sr-ama.webmaster@noaa.gov) address.

Wall cloud northwest of Amarillo at 4:13pm (Alex Schueth)

Tornado southwest of Spearman, Texas (Matt Maynard)

Closer view of the tornado southwest of Spearman, Texas (Matt Maynard)

Ground scraping wall cloud near Bishop Hills, Texas at 4:06pm (Mike Prendergast)

Golf ball size hail 6 miles northwest of Fritch, Texas at 1:53pm (Quincy Vagell)

Mesocyclone near Howardwick, Texas at 7:37pm (Quincy Vagell)

Caption (source)

Radar

Storm Reports

Reports Map

Map of Preliminary Storm Reports Received on May 7th. (Map Source: Iowa Environmental Mesonet. Reports from NWS.)

Table of Reports

Flash flood, hail, funnel cloud, and wind gust reports are listed here. For details on the tornadoes that occurred, see the 'Tornadoes' tab above.

Rain Reports

On top of generating severe weather, the storms on May 7th were prolific rain producers, with amounts of up to 6 inches of rainfall falling. Highest amounts were seen northwest of Lake Meredith and across eastern Wheeler and Collingsworth Counties. Additionally, a few locations recorded flash flooding. See the 'Storm Reports' tab above for more information on flash flooding.

Estimated rainfall using a combination of point rainfall report and AHPS radar-based estimates. (Rainfall data: NWS. Map made using GAZPACHO.)