Happy, Texas tornado May 5, 2002

[XxCaMoXxSnIpErXx]

the tornado dosent look so happy =(

[BigTexan7]

I lived in Canyon at the time and they brought the injured from Happy across the street from my house in the parking lot of First Baptist Church which was being used as an evac area for Life-Star helicopters for transport to Northwest Medical Center in Amarillo. It was quite a sight and all our neighbors were outside watching Life-Star land and take off!

[kd5mtl]

I was one of the Skywarn spotters on this storm. If I remember correctly it was an EF3. This was the first tornado that I chased that killed somebody and it always stuck with me.

[missmartinez06]

i remember this tornado...my hometown isn't even 15 minutes away! this town only has about 650 people it it! so if this tornado would have hit in town, there would not be a Happy, Texas anymore!

[kimers7685]

LOL at the random 'holy shit!' haha

[bassetbaby67]

Wow. We moved to Grand Prairie TX in Feb of 2001. I'll never forget the tornado that hit us on May 4th that year. It was my youngest son's 6th birthday that day and the tornado went across the 360 & 20 and down Arkansas Lane, right beside our apt complex. The sound of it still haunts me to this day.

[punnkypo]

i wonder what people would do if somethin like that hit california....

[halverdha1]

yeah its fuckin fnny wen u find one asshol WADENA MNN go fuck ouselfs

[rebafan19]

my cousin had a birthday the time the tornado hit Randall County, TX

[rebafan19]

out there by Amarillo and Canyon in Randall County

[MisterNobody777]

Was the windshield damaged from massive hail?

[CROUELLETTE]

yo buddy you arent safe in pensylvania you still get winter storms with more snow than me in canada this winter has sucked in canada compared to your place and tornadoes happen often in your area not as much as texas an f5 hit there in 1985 I think

[divababy0825]

thats why i live in pa.the worst that happens is we have bad thunderstorms.but i would love to see a good twister.

[dragonridley]

Actually tornadoes are not uncommon in Western PA, There was very bad outbreak in the 80s that included one F5 that hit near Wheatland, PA

[aurora990]

did the crack on the windshield was as a result of a large hailstone?

[TroySundt]

Jeez! Did the first big one even move?! It looks like it stayed in the same spot during the whole filming...

[Driv3r14]

haha sinco de meyo!

[ChanelAngel224]

whats that static sound? and holy crap thats a huge tornado o.o;;;

[claudia22juiz]

Cuando sera el dia que Estados unidos deje de sufrir!!!!!!!

[KLHrider]

i remember this it was the day of my birthday party and i just got home and the computer wouldnt work so my dad looked down the street and there was a tornado....rite down my alley was a house that got the whole grage ripped out of there house.luckly it only took out a few of our windows

[dork72107]

I remember this.

I live in Amarillo--the panhandle gets some pretty crazy weather.

I think it was an F-2, if I remember correctly. Forgive me if I'm wrong.

[dragonridley]

Yeas it was a weak F2

[rebafan19]

@dork72107 i live in Amarillo too

[jtsr871]

I called Jay Wade Johnson that day..A childhood friend. It was a sad time.. I lived in Happy as a child..This also happened on my birthday...I still feel bad about this. The people of this town were great and kind people...A small town with big hearts... Go Happy Cowboys...The Black and Gold Forever.

[jmeier37]

amaglioc, i have 2 questions: first, howd the windshield get like that, and also what was this tornado on the Fujuita scale?

[eric21011]

totaly cool!!!!

[IvyJBressler]

There was a video shot by a high school student of this tornado. Anybody seen it? And is it on here?

[iliketoastman]

omg i remember this i lived in pampa and my friend was at my house. and my friend lived there and spent the night. his parents called and said that they loved him and then 6 hours later the tornado hit happy and both of his parnets were killed =(

[JaxieBoy]

I have a bad feeling July and August are going to be awful this year.

A similar situation happened in 2003, but longer. Then when spring 2004 came, we had almost endless severe weather.

Now, how long it'll happen this time will probably depend on how much longer we have unusually pleasant weather. I live in northern Texas, and this is beyond strange to have such nice weather for such long periods of time.

[d5i5a5n5a5]

I live in Happy and this was a disaster! My family and i actually were BBQ cause it was Cinco de Mayo when we heard the warning....thankfully there was no damage to my house but parts of the town were torn up pretty bad..

[DizzyX59]

b00 j00

[rockondon]

cannot believe people pay 2,000 per person for

a chance to view 1?

[dragonridley]

$2,000? I think I'd be better off finding one on my own.

[tornadomanatwork]

wow!!!! nice.

[mstrsofday]

I live in Amarillo also. I agree we seem to be really lucky so far when it comes to big storms. It also seems like the rain likes to pass us too sometimes.

[Debo318]

I'm sure you do remember the massive hailstorm that pounded us a few years back. And I believe that White Deer tornado a few year ago hit the north side of A-town. We're not totally out of the woods all the time ya know.

[halo2unleashed]

That hailstorm was NUTZ! Freaking pounded Amarillo with hail. But yes we have been very very lucky to not have any damaging tornadoes hit the city.

[rebafan19]

@mstrsofday and when it comes to tornadoes

[SenorSpode]

Righteous.

[TheDumbening]

now in tex were having an f5 right now!!!

[DanielDaniel1]

shit where its gusty here

[Stormchaser182]

Man I remember this storm....I live in Amarillo and it always seems like the "big" storms always seem to miss us. :(

[deschuy27]

LoL...

Notice @ 8:00...

The guy in the other truck pulls up 2 them and waves, then continues driving closer 2 the tornado 2 get a better look.

Wonder whatever happened 2 that guy...

[Regency500]

That is scary! We never get tornadoes in Virginia.

[GurlyJenn23]

tornado season is coming up here in texas pretty soon

[Lightningbladesonic]

I remember this tornado this is why I am glad to live in Texas!

[darrinrasberry]

Ahah. Who just used "tornado" as a verb at the beginning?

[Naturalheals]

Nice vid poor windshield glad i live in CA

[jawbraker84]

me too

[fob4ever1214]

WOW IM GLADE I LIVE IN NYC!

[lightning7777]

this is cool i never seen atornado that close

[Polyfooka]

That was the most unexciting 9 minutes 36 seconds of my life.... talk about an anticlimax!

[standff]

awesome footage,mate,wicked.

[bigdipper11788]

dude that car was sitting right next to it id do what the other guy would do run dang retards

[JeeprzCreepers56]

nice windshield

[hefi123]

how in the hell could you get that close i wuss out over f0s!

[Momoftwinsplus1]

amazing footage, it was a freakin monster and it grew so quickly, thanks for posting

[Christina7777]

Dude, there is a car that is just sitting there... I WOULD RUN!!!! "Oh! Look, a big swirling cloud forming! LET'S STAY AND WATCH!!" No. That siren sounds like its having some technical difficulties... yeah.

[nextmeet]

wow risk taker.. going to a tornado with broken glass,,, anyone get injured?

[ogpdub]

Thnx for the vid so next time i get a tornado waring here in laredo, ill remember to see how it forms and not to shit myself.

[progress2007]

Thanks for this video, it shows the entire process of the tornado forming and dissipating without cuts, I really appreciate it.

[kidneyguy]

i heard this was an F-5. was it really an F-5?

[Momoftwinsplus1]

Happy, Texas, on May 5, 2002 was rated F2 on the Fujita Scale. The damage survey suggests wind speeds in the 115 to 130 mph range which places it in the lower end of F2.

[STEF54]

no way dude, it looked like 1/4 mile wide

[burtonfan2]

no, the last F5 before greensburg was may 3

[kidneyguy]

ok. thank you for telling me. just thought it was an F-5.

[hummtide]

That siren has issues!

[tornadomad]

Your right. it keeps cutting out. XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD

[Blue10AEMia]

That siren is not cutting in and out, its just doing a fast wail

[jcoffey3]

Happy is the name of the town you moron.

[lasigmaman]

Uhh, I'm thinking helpgirl was just making a little funny there. I'm almost sure she knows Happy's the name of the town.

[helpgirl]

You call that happy?A cracked window an a tornado? Really:(

[MDHmodder]

See movie title!

[Debo318]

I do have a picture I took of this tornado while coming home from Lubbock. It was indeed a monster of a storm. My uncle, who lives in Hereford, said this very storm passed overhead and dumped some golf ball sized hail!

[MDHmodder]

Ooooh, la-de-daaaah. Happy days.

Real happy days.

... Wait... is that a tornado?!

[helpgirl]

that is bad

[daniels4ever]

wow thats impressive to say the least

[zebra295]

Its just amazing to watch it escalate in such a short amount of time....

[wxnut]

that's the one me and my daughter just missed.. we were on the north side of the storm, several miles away.. were no roads in sight going S! anyway, gr8 footage! =)

[PCCHS06]

are you traned spoters

[amaglioc]

My chase partner and I had both taken several Skywarn classes, yes. While we weren't in contact with NWS during this tornado, another chaser in our group was reporting directly to the forecast office via Skywarn.

[s9610243g]

awesome!!!!too cool!!

[someoldguyudontknow]

And how powerful was the tornado?

[amaglioc]

The we encountered the day before the tornado was up to tennis ball size, enough to wreck my glass. I don't remember significant hail in or around the Happy storm. I don't remember the F-rating for the Happy tornado, but it's interesting; for most of my video above, I don't think it looks like a particularly violent circulation, just big and dusty.

[MiddleFingerSaysHi]

what distance you reckon you were from that thing? because from a certain distance it won't look like it's spinning very fast, so this could have very well been an F3 or strong F2! sorry to hear a couple died in this tornado..

[amaglioc]

From the large dusty vortex, I guess we were about one mile, maybe one and a half. Honestly I don't remember the rating. You might be able to find that on the Lubbock NWS homepage.

[rebafan19]

@MiddleFingerSaysHi well this was from the Amarillo NWS

[Heyde1979]

I can hear tornado sirens in the background but it sounds like the siren does not want to sound

[jkr785]

@amaglioc I just looked this tornado up. It was rated an F-2

[someoldguyudontknow]

How large did the hail get?

[someoldguyudontknow]

Is your windshield nearly shattered? Or is it something on it?

[amaglioc]

We chased the day before and tangled with big hail. Almost called off the May 5 chase because of the damaged glass, but luckily we didn't.

[HybridRose]

sorry to hear that. keep posting.

[HybridRose]

so did yall make it out ok and what was destroyed? how many tornadoes were there? good vid.

[amaglioc]

As Jeff and I left, the big dusty tornado seemed to dissipate but another tornado emerged and was behind us as we exited the town. It's an open question among chasers whether or not these were different tornadoes. Unfortunately, a man and woman were killed in Happy by this storm.

[iliketoastman]

omg that was my friends parents the man and the woman omg