The 1987 Saragosa F4 Tornado - Why the 26 Minute Warning was never Received. 

Texans: do you pronounce it Peck-os or Pay-cos?

This is why no matter how many weather radio, TV, and cell phone alerts there are out there I will always support maintaining a robust emergency siren infrastructure.

Weatherbox has that "25 years old with 30 years experience" energy the world needs.

It was such a tragic combination of local government refusing a surplus siren, a majority Spanish-speaking population who didn’t get adequate warning from the networks, and the majority of housing ranging from mobile homes to single story cinder block, wood, or adobe homes that wouldn’t have stood a chance against an EF0-EF1 tornado, much less an EF4 tornado. This native west Texan salutes you for this much awaited presentation. A little trivia, Mr. Jose Candelas rebuilt his store by hand, making his own cinder blocks and eventually returned to business before passing away in 2004.

The fact that all the kids survived is really something… the love a parent has for a child is stunning

I'm still an advocate for sirens. They are the most direct, universally communicated method of mass storm awareness. They are similar to, if not identical to, fire sirens. They have gotten us out of bed for calls that we wouldn't have recieved otherwise. Telephones lose signal or power, televisions may be turned off, i personally don' t have a NOAA radio (working on it) but my local siren is six blocks away. Unrelated, i would love to know more about the July 21st, 2003 storm that took out the Kinzua bridge. Not particularly strong storm, but notable for both taking down the bridge, and the relatively rarity of Pennsylvania tornadoes. Fantastic work as always. Thank you.

My family and I lived about 10 minutes away from Saragosa. I was in 2nd grade in 1987 and remember that night very well. We lost several family members in that tornado.

I love how he makes me feel like a tornado expert, without making me feel dumb. 😀

I remember when this happened. They were taking out bodies on the news, and the reporter was stoically streaming tears and fighting to keep his voice steady as he described that every single child was safe and at least five of them were literally shielded by more than one adult body, and that's the only reason they lived. Talk about a community. It was heartbreaking, and terrible.

I appreciate this particular storm upload! My mother was a teacher in Pecos and was supposed to be in town for that head start graduation, but ended up staying in Pecos. Not only did that save her life, but absolutely saved mine too, because I wasn’t born until 1991.

Thank you for saying “That scary tone followed by the weather warning” and not cutting to a clip of the warning cutting in with the tone. I’m a survivor of the quad state tornado, and my biggest deterrent to tornado doc videos is those clips with the warning tones. Of course I still watch them, but I never know when a video will have that tone. It always takes me back to that scary night.

Thanks for making this video. In 1987, as a 10 year old kid living in East Texas, seeing this event being reported on by the TV news stations in Dallas was the beginning of a life long interest in tornadic storms for me. It has always seemed that this storm never got the attention that was warranted. It's like history just forgot about it.

Excellent. A significant tornado event that hasn't been talked about to death on RU-vid.

The failure of local government aside, what horrible luck that Saragosa was hit by such a short lived tornado. Thanks for doing such a deep dive on this relatively unknown tornado.

On the topic of violent southwestern Texas tornadoes, I reckon that you could make a great video on the Bakersfield Valley F4 of 1990. Not only did it produce some of the most extreme ground scouring ever recorded, but it tossed multiple oil tanks - each weighing 180,000 pounds - three miles away, with two tanks being rolled 600 feet up a steep hill. One of the most impressive individual instances of tornado damage on record, I'd say. The general consensus seems to be that it may very well have been an F5, but it struck such a remote and sparsely-populated area that damage surveys only resulted in an F4 rating.

What I find baffling is how many more communities the size of Sargosa or even larger are in more tornado-prone areas with no sirens. I'm a firefighter in central Oklahoma and I manage our city's siren system and emergency management ops. As much as I am an advocate for sirens and their usage today, they should absolutely not be relied on for first warning. Our town has not the best infrastructure and I'm willing to bet most people rely on our siren for first warning. We used to have two sirens, but one that was installed in the 90s was removed after 2008. We're now down to one in the far southwest corner of our city, stuck facing away from the town center, and that has to be manually activated by me. The nearby college campus has two new sirens installed in 2014 that I help manage, but before I was brought on to help, they sat dormant. When you look at the math, I am sure there have been tens of tornado warnings for the area since 2014, and they weren't activated once. Not even for tests. Thankfully I was brought on to change that, and that will be the next part of my mission, as well as upgrading our current siren and installing a new one in the eastern part of our town.

Glad that you covered this story. It's a somewhat forgotten tragedy and a cautionary tale that in protecting the public from natural disasters, getting the physical science right is only half the battle.

On a similar note to people caught unaware- the Barneveld, WI F5 of 1984 always stuck with me, especially since its so close to the area I grew up in. One of the more unique features of it and the larger outbreak was how late it managed to happen. The one that hit Barneveld wouldn't be until 1:00 AM, which is insanely late for a tornado, especially one as strong as it. The fact that it managed to completely destroy then-newly built homes; all whilst everyone was asleep... terrifying to say the least.

It was recently that I learned that the sirens are there to warn people who are outside. Not inside. I'm in northern Illinois. I believe it was my storm spotter training that mentioned this. It makes sense.

You know it’s gonna be a fine evening when it’s kicked off with a weatherbox upload

Nice job here. It must be an arduous task to compile meteorological data from nearly 40 years ago 👏🏻

That Jarrell tornado was nightmare fuel.

A somewhat fun fact, I was living in Joplin at the time of the 2011 tornado and let me tell you what, I still haven't fully recovered, but to be fair, I was 10 at the time, so it's gonna stick with you. At this point the effects it has on me are limited to increased stress during strong/severe weather and the urge to keep an eye on the weather during these times. It was rather scary, but my entire family that lived in Joplin at the time were fine, in fact, both my uncle and his family, and my grandparents were actually untouched by the tornado, while my house was almost completely obliterated. Another fun fact, the neighborhood I used to live in at that time has since been completely demolished and is now technically part of the High School's Football field.

I remember when this happened. I was only 8 years old living right outaide of Pecos. My chirch group drove through Saragosa a few months later and j remember the major impact it had on me at a young age as to exactly how dangerous tornadoes could be. Sticks with me to this day! I got very interested in weather for a while and even started going with my Dad when he went weather watching. Learned a lot and still feel very comfortable watching radar and looking outside to determine the risks. Thank you for covering this!

Graduation and a weatherbox upload all in the same night. Couldn’t be better.

Wow, I'm an avid tornado enthusiast, and have been studying them for years and I've never heard of this one before! Thanks for expanding my knowledge!

I can't imagine the horror of just happening a glance out the window and seeing a tornado coming at you, with absolutely zero prior warning.

Stumbled across this video randomly, as a weather and true crime enthusiast living in tornado alley, thinking this was just going to be a macabre video briefly covering the tornado tragedy just being like “they had no warnings and town was wiped with causalities”. But this video was a very informative analysis about the event and even accounted for the details that led up to the condition of the situation (the status/resources of the town/state, the recipe of the storms, the level or lack of preparation, the lead time they had, etc) while also having a refreshing narration style, with even data/book recommendations! Hope you keep up these style of videos and continue to spread awareness!

I really appreciate the way you present the facts objectively, while still being compassionate to the people involved, and dishing out some shade where is deserved. Very well done, my man.

Life is good when a new Weatherbox video is uploaded :)

My guy, as a Texan, I can't help myself in telling you that PECOS is pronounced "Pay-Coz," with the last syllable sounding like "cozy" but cut off early. You're not from here, so I forgive you. I still love your content. Keep it coming!

A lot of people, even in this century, didn't own a NOAA Weather Radio or have a radio capable with a weather band. I can't say it's obsolete, but many now have less of a reason thanks to our phones. Thank you Steve for opening up the @Weatherbox and the book.

Yet another excellent video! I could watch this guy for hours and not get bored. The delivery, information, graphics, and storytelling are all spot-on.

The time, money, energy and research that you do for a video is amazing and much appreciated! Always a worthy watch. Thank you.

As a European (with American family) who watches your vids, I reckon you should do a vid on some of the most destructive tornadoes we've had over here!

Growing up in Texas back during this time, stories like this absolutely traumatized me well into my adulthood. But it also sparked a lifelong fascination with weather, tornadoes and science. The amount of detail in your analysis of these decades old events is impressive. Great work!

Nice 7/8 intro! :) I always love watching your videos not only for the attention to detail and clarity in everything, but also the super fun sounding intro riffs!

Thanks for this video. At around 5:30 am the following morning, hubby turned on the radio (we live in Davis Mts) and heard Paul Harvey say this: "The tornado that put Saragosa, Texas, on the map, wiped it off the map!" We were stunned! Plus his mother, a medic, was one of the folks who went there the day after to help out. Plus, we knew a friend in Balmorhea that actually saw the tornado coming and knew Saragosa would likely be wiped out. Finally, one of my math students in Van Horn HS where I taught as the year wound down in May 1987 told me and the class she lost her grandmother in this tornado. I hugged her nearly crying and gave a short prayer. Years later I met with her at Balmorhea State Park swimming pool (the largest natural cold spring pool in the US, full of fish and turtles, etc.) and we reviewed the tragedy. I will never forget this event. Again, thanks!

I found your channel recently and I'm glad I did! Has really re-ignited the interest in severe weather and just weather in general that I had as a kid. Thanks for being rad :)

I was living in Odessa at that time. It was horrible. The Red Cross took massive donations to help the town but only gave them a portion which generated many bad feelings. These were poor families who lost everything and were given a bare minimum.

Marion IL F4, 1982. I live in this town, it's my hometown. My father was 12 when it happened, my mother was 10, both remember it. My grandparents both have pictures of the tornado they took, and I also have a picture/information book about the tornado.

I didn’t even realize it was a new video when I clicked on… keep up the good work man! Love the videos!

Mate. This is fast becoming my favourite weather channel. Your knowledge bombs are excellent. Cheers from Oz

When I moved to the south from new hampshire in 2013, I was horrified by the amount of people who don’t take those warnings seriously. In fact a lot of people down here call meteorologists “crocks” for “false” readings and forecasts here in Tennessee. We had a tornado warning here recently I was able to see coming in advance using my own dobbler radar app on my phone using information I learned watching your channel. Thanks for the info and the work you do sir!

The amount of research videos like this takes is IMMENSE. SUPER underrated. I'd like to make a request for the F4 tornado that hit La Plata Maryland in 2002. (BY FAR Maryland's worst, and the farthest east F4 ever) I was 13 at the time and a few towns over, but the sky that day was unreal. Then I heard the news reports, and it was a scary day. Be cool to learn more about it, and have others learn about it. Keep it up dude!

Hell yes new Weatherbox video. I never thought I'd be stoked for a meteorology video upload...

I think you should look at the Attica KS Outbreak in the early 2000s and the 1998 Nashville TN tornado. Those rarely get talked about.

I‘ve just found your channel today and had to do a double take when I saw your subscriber count as you’re so underrated! The production quality is amazing! I’ve absolutely subscribed and am in the middle of binging all your videos! Keep up the great work!

Superb breakdown of the event. You make such excellent in-depth analyses videos.

Another absolute banger of a video, man.

Is that your Juno-106? Gotta know. Love the content and keep it up brother! This channel is going places!!

There's a picture of the Saragosa tornado that was taken in its multi-vortex stage that shows it in the "dead man walking" formation. What's more, the colors of the tornado and clouds are similar to the colors seen in the Jarrell tornado. It's a very eerie photograph because of the time it was taken, right as the tornado was entering Saragosa and hitting Guadalupe Hall.

One other thing going against Saragossa is they’re on the very fringe of radar coverage to start. Even today where I live, there are areas where NEXRAD coverage is iffy @ best.

The mix of science, history, and humanity are what make your videos worth the watch. Learn so much each time, keep it up!

This is a slick video, high quality, professional grade. You’re clearly the convergence of many talents, a swirling supercell dropping f-5-level entertainment.

As a native West Texan, it tickled me that you said Balmorhea like a local, but mispronounced Pecos. Such a cool video! Happened when I was 1 years old.

I absolutely love you're videos ❤ thanks for posting them when you can. Quality it better the quantity.

Saragosa has always been such an interesting weather case of having a strong, violent tornado in the arid deserts of West Texas. Thanks for making this video! Also, just an FYI, the town of Pecos is pronounced PAY-coes (not Peh-kus). 😉

Wow, I had no idea about this situation. Thank you for covering it!

Hey. Know your busy and you have plenty of videos, but I was wondering if you could do a break down of the 1980 Grand Isle, Nebraska tornadoes. Fujita did a larger report on this. Would be cool!

This video was amazing! It’s really interesting to here about forgotten tornadoes that were so powerful! I really think you should do a video on either the Lawrenceburg, Tennessee F5 tornado or the Hallam, Nebraska F4 tornado!

Thanks for the video on a tornado that I was unaware of. Keep up the good work 👍

Arguably my favorite channel on RU-vid right now

"some residents felt like they were being systematically ignored" the very next sentence "one year prior in 1986 surplus emergency sirens were offered... but Saragosa was the only town that didn't accept the offer, in fact they didn't even respond at all"

Great video! Was hoping you'd tackle this one! One recommendation: Oakfield, Wisconsin outbreak of July 1996.

I absolutely love the aesthetics of your videos. Another banger. Heart wrenching story but you told it well.

Good to see you, weatherbox!

Can we appreciate how simple daylight, and air can create something so much devastation, but be so numbing to look at in person. Also you can see the USA drought line through tornado alley. You can watch that inch east, as tornado alley shifts.

0:02 I need a 10 hour video of just this music

Sweeeeet I’ve been excited all day!

Another fantastic video! I am looking forward to the next! The 1984 Barneveld tornado and subsequent tornado years later would be of interest to Me

I have to say, the amount of work and research that you put into these videos is really astounding and has honestly been helping me combat my growing lilapsophobia. Looking and understanding weather events like this, as well as the measurements that are in place to warn and protect us, really helps rationalize the entire experience and I genuinely feel safer. :) Thanks for what you do! Great job!

There are more than a few counties and cities in Arkansas that also lack outdoor warning sirens. Hard to figure out because Arkansas is in the traditional Tornado Alley AND Dixie Alley. Now please understand that sirens are not meant to be heard indoors but for people who are outdoors.

Yes weatherbox just uploaded 🎉❤

Ive watched a couple of your videos. That being said. I generally understand terms and diagrams being shown. Your knowledge if weather terms throws me for a loop. Your Nuclear Tornado video was an absolute rollercoaster of terms and had me in awe.

This is a great video. Fantastic explanations overall. I didn't understand some of the weather jargon, but that just leaves me with research to do.

Having lived in Pecos for 7 years, thank you for covering this one.

love the noaa weather radio mentions! as a nerd in NWR i love it alot

Great vid, just found your channel. Condolences to the families of those lost to the storms.

Yay!! another RU-vid rabbit hole to go down thank you so much my friend!

I know I've told you before, but I can't tell you how much I enjoy your content. Keep it up, the passion you put into it is evident. ☕

Would really enjoy seeing you cover the Jackson, Mississippi Candlestick tornado in 1966. My dad lived less than a mile from the shopping center and was home alone when the tornado hit. He was 15 at the time. Thank you as always for your interesting and informative videos and I always look forward to watching them!

i have no idea why this was in my recommended, but it was fascinating. good job!

your info/presentation is so interesting and, like, actually applicable!! tornadoes are terrifying! i live in UT and people always talk about the '99 tornado - it would be very neat to get a vid about this!!

Love the channel

Would love to hear an analysis of the 2015 fire hose that caused flooding over literally all of South Carolina. It was a week-long event, and in the Myrtle Beach area, we got two rounds of it as heavy rains came, drifted toward Columbia and the Upstate, and then drifted back for another round of flooding.

Thank you for bringing up my suggestion in this video. It will actually be 37 years since the event this Monday.

You do a good job as a historian and as an educator in showing how Tornadoes develop and the warning signs to look out for. In '80, my Dad and I, transplants from Illinois into California 14 years before, were golfing the day after a rare thunderstorm hit the Napa Valley, where I was raised, ironically to get away from the wild weather and Tornadoes we experienced in Illinois. We were experienced in knowing how these storms develop and moved to California taking our chances on earthquakes (we felt the '89 one strongly) knowing the wind can more likely hurt, or a blizzard. We went golfing on a rare, sticky humid day, in the southern portion of Napa county which has rolling hills and landscapes similar to Tornado country in places like Oklahoma, Texas, and western Nebraska. No thunderstorms, let alone super cells were forecast, given the atmosphere was already worked over from a storm the night before. I had graduated high school the year before and during breaks from college, loved golfing with my Dad, we weren't that bad, favoring a private 9 hole course which I made par on a couple of times. The course was clouded, golfers were cranky, since it was hot, and humid and the sun just felt like it could give a sunburn in minutes. Then, clouds started to form out of a clear sky, first cumulus, and oddly quite low to the ground.... Within 20 minutes, as we were approaching the ninth hole, the skies darkened to nearly black and we heard thunder, so we played the hole out, then teed up again to do another round of nine holes. At the first tee, I heard the rumble of a train, underestimating the strength of the storm because the approaching storm could not be seen thru the trees, then the loudness of the rumble was at least like ten train engines. My mindset took seconds to remember that the train tracks to our east---were five miles to our east, and trains could not even be heard from there. My father and I both exclaimed 'Tornado!' and since we were both adults, we made separate decisions which saved our lives, because we were directly in the path of the Tornado. My Dad huddled next to the fence by the first tee, not so worried about lightning, since there were trees between 40 and 60 feet tall, with one, the course's largest by its entrance, about 80 feet tall. I ran towards the clubhouse, hearing the approaching Tornado but not knowing the direction it was coming from. I saw the clubhouse one minute, and then, for the next fifteen seconds, I could not even see my feet, I was surrounded in a veil of brown, swirling muck, feeling wind and small twigs and branches pelting me on all sides. It seemed like I was frozen in time, I felt no fear, just confusion, because the noise was so loud and I could not move my body while standing up whatsoever. Then it was gone, thunder still rumbling, I ran to the clubhouse where all the golfers had gathered other than the ones on the far side of the course who were not in the path of the Tornado, and told them they had just been in a Tornado, because they were quite shaken. Had I run towards the tall tree, the 80 footer, it would have been a bad move--it broke at its base, once a proud evergreen, now just a pile of branches. My Dad said he saw the funnel pass over me and he did not expect to see me standing where I was. We felt because it was an F0/F0.5 at the most, it was the only reason I could survive such winds since in my life I was once exposed to hurricane force winds in a California "PineApple" express storm some months prior. There was no mention of the storm on the news because we had no regular radar coverage back then, but the damage to the golf course I estimated was about $20,000 including five or six car windshields that were broken. The course emptied out--twigs and tree branches covered holes one, two, five, and six, roughly the path of the Tornado as it went to the east, coming out of the west. One outbuilding was flipped over, a few other smaller trees knocked over, and many shingles were torn off the roof of the clubhouse and keepers quarters. My Dad and I, after a beer (the owners let me drink though I was only nineteen then), just went and played another nine holes---except for putting on holes one, two, five and six because too many twigs and branches covered them, putting into the hole was impossible. My Dad and I always had a calming influence around each other--he said though I was the youngest of his two sons, I had a way of just waiting out natural events that threatened us, because I survived major surgery when I was only eleven I always felt if it was my time, it was my time and otherwise I would make it thru. The point of my mention of this is that your videos can save lives, by teaching people about earth sciences, and how the earth is not out to intentionally hurt us--we just tend to build our homes in places where we either should not, or without stronger foundations, walls and cellars for safety. In the 21st century, we have more education. I thank my lucky stars I studied meteorology if only to satisfy my college science requirement, in 1980, just a couple of months before the ever so rare California Tornado, because it helped me make decisions more quickly that day as far as how to handle what was upon my Dad and I. And I have always felt I've had a guardian spirit, maybe just my respect of nature and advice I give others about it, that has saved me or helped me save others, as I did later in my life when confronted with an act of nature, by advising them where to shelter as they would do for me.

I love your videos. Woudl there be a chance of you reviewing the full May 31, 1985 tornado outbreak?

Hey Steve, A cool thing about that is one of my teachers was actually there in that part of Texas & actually saw the tornado in person. He was in a small near by town at the time. He saw the debris swirling around the multi-vortex tornado pass near by.

Awesome Video and Channel! I would love to see a video on the ice storm of '98. Growing up in Plattsburgh NY, I have heard many stories of that event and post disaster recovery. I really like your Intros, keep it synth heavy!

It's always a good day when weatherbox uploads!!! Can't wait for the next vid already lol I'd love a video on the June 29th 2012 super derecho!!

Steve, you should do a video about the 1991 Andover Tornado as it's the most photographed F5/EF5 in history so far

I love your videos

Great Job putting together this video, I saw the aftermath the next morning. I had family living in the town at the time and was actually featured in this video. One thing I remember clearly were hundreds of knifes and forks stuck in tree trunks. This area was a farming community and large Tractors were found a couple miles away. This storm was extremely large and wiped the entire town. The rebuilding of the town was a blessing as the town originally was older and not developed to today's standard.

Awesome as always. Your presentation skills just get better and better, and your narration is extremely engaging, and hard hitting is the way I would put it. ::Kinda sad but historically important EAS noises::

You should do the Barneveld Tornado.

Another excellent video! I would love to see your take on the Plainfield Tornado of 1990. Also, I would love to see a video on the Waco Tornado of 1953. I grew up in Waco and it seems that it's hard to find videos about it. The Flint and Worchester Tornadoes of the same year have videos but not so much the Waco one despite being an F-5.

very fair and actually hopeful description of a horrific event in u.s. tornadic history. thanks!

Another win for weatherbox for another fantastic video!! Can you try and upload another tornado episode on the May 15 2018 tornado outbreak that struck Connecticut?