Expert: Historic San Angelo Storm of 1995 Wasn't a Tornado

 

SAN ANGELO, TX — As summer begins, LIVE! takes a look back at one of San Angelo’s worst storms—the May 28, 1995 storm—and hopefully provides definitive answers to some questions that still linger, 23 years later.

A nationally recognized expert on all things weather and climate is Steve Lyons, who for 12 seasons was the hurricane and severe weather expert for The Weather Channel, and who is now the Chief Meteorologist in Charge at the National Weather Service (NWS) in San Angelo.

And having such an expert at my disposal, I had to ask for what might be the definitive explanation of what happened weather-wise here in San Angelo on that day.

In Lyons' own words:

“Back in May 1995, there were no forecasters here in San Angelo at the forecast office, only meteorological technicians.  We did not have the WSR-88D radar at that time either, but instead the old "57 Radar" and yes "57" refers to technology of 1957.  Dyess Air Force Base [in Abilene] had the Doppler radar at that time and it indicated a tornado 8 miles SW of Carlsbad and north of San Angelo....a tornado warning was issued for that storm.”

“There appears to be some controversy as to whether there was a tornado or straight line winds in this event.  The big damage and expense clearly came from large hail. A total of seven people worked at our office back then with typically one person on shift at any time.  However four additional people were called in to work that fateful Sunday, making a staff of five in the office at the time of the storm (five of seven total staff). A severe thunderstorm warning was issued around 3:47 p.m.”

“If strong wind causes damage most people "think" it is caused by a tornado whether they ever see a tornado or not...and it is very difficult to convince them there was no tornado...just strong straight line winds.  Either can be just as damaging. The first Meteorologist in Charge at our San Angelo office did a storm damage survey and concluded there was no tornado only a large swath of strong and damaging straight line winds...along with a large swath of severe hail damage.  An early bulletin was issued prior to the storm's arrival.”

“There was a severe thunderstorm warning issued for the storm, but NO tornado warning.  I am not certain what the city policy was at that time on sounding sirens, or whether sirens were sounded for that storm or not.  But that decision lies with the city and not with the National Weather Service. Today, the city will sound sirens for severe thunderstorm warnings if hail is large and/or winds (straight line) are strong...no tornado is necessary for them to go to siren/or phone call warning mode. “

“Later at 5:25 p.m. a tornado warning was issued for Tom Green County until 6:30 p.m....at 5:26 p.m. a tornado was reported at Rio Concho Village Apartments [east of downtown off Rio Concho Dr.].  Of course there is no certainty it was a 'tornado' but strong winds did produce a wide damage swath from strong winds and large hail.”

“In the end the official damage survey indicated strong straight line wind damage and large hail damage but no tornado was confirmed in that damage survey done by the then MIC of the forecast office.  Debate will likely continue in the minds of local residents that experienced that storm...the strong winds (whether rotating or not) were very damaging and large hail was deafening and very damaging to the city.”

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MjNS, Tue, 05/29/2018 - 11:51

Is it from that storm, or just a stock photo? ...cause...that looks like a tornado...

I was stationed at Goodfellow at the time. I was the the Disaster Preparedness flight on base. All the damage I witness was wind related and hail. There was no tornado damage from myself driving from College Hills to the base. By base damage was the metal roofs pealed back in one direction as were the street lights and advertisement signs, no bark or leaves on the trees, hail covered up the ground from chadbourne to the base

I lived right down the street from the fire training grounds on South Concho Park Drive. I had softball to basketball sized hail break every window on all four sides of my home. Call it what you want but you can't break all sides, all windows, and deposit ice at speed without at least a little rotation!
So, call it what you want but I'll always remember my wife yelling "I hear the train! I hear the train!" confirming a little tornado lore. My closest feeling to being in a movie ... TWISTER!

I remember the storm... I lived over on the Southwest side at the time... I looked up in the sky and saw a hugantic wall of black cloud rolling in that looked more like a looming cliff face, than it did a cloud.

I of course stayed outside to experience the storm in classic, "Lt. Dan" style, until it started ripping the fence apart. The stories that I heard circulating at the time, were of a tornado touching down by the airport... I didn't care what happened, when the siren's went off and you could barely stand leaning into the wind, I knew it was the strongest storm that I had come across.

Very few have come close since, maybe 2 or 3 might be comparable. I was just talking to my wife about this storm the other day, I don't remember a tornado having hit San Angelo in my lifetime, but then again, I wasn't born in the early 40's to have witnessed the lakeview tornado of 53.

I was also in the Disaster Preparedness Flight during that storm. I can remember that the roof of the billeting office was peeled up on one corner, as Mark Espinosa said, but I also remember a tree behind the Child Care Center toppled straight on top of a building, and severe damage to a couple other buildings on base. I remember driving through the neighborhood along Ft. McKavitt Rd as well, and there were many houses that had damage on 3 sides. To me, that indicates rotation as well, as Shadows Ryder said. My supervisor, who lived on Tres Rios, had every window in his house blown out due to hail. You can't tell me that's just straight line winds. Seems there has to be rotation in there somewhere.

I was at a church youth gathering at the youth pastor's house. I can't remember specifically, but I believe it was somewhere on the outer edges of town. We were in the swimming pool and it started raining really hard. Most of the teens and adults got out of the pool, but a few, including myself and the youth pastor, continued swimming up until it started hailing. Of course, we then decided it was time to exit the pool and go inside. The storm and winds were heavier than usual, but we had no idea how bad it actually was until it was over and we headed back home. None of us knew there was a "tornado" until after we saw all the hail and destruction. Up until now, we all believed that tornadoes (we never actually saw) had gone through town. I remember all the hail looked like a foot of snow.

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