The tornado that cut a nearly 19 mile path through the southeast Houston TX area has been rated EF3 with peak winds of 140 mph. Here’s the details:
The tornado was on the ground for 35 minutes along an 18.8 mile path and had peak winds of 140 mph. The forward speed of the tornado averaged 32.2 mph. The twister crossed I-45 and it crossed the Sam Houston Tollway twice. Several tall high tension electrical towers were knocked down (see pic. above). They are built to withstand winds of 120 mph.
This was a wide tornado. At 1,000 yards wide, the circulation stretched for over half a mile from one side to the other. There were a few minor injuries, but no serious injuries or fatalities. There were 3 more injuries from severe thunderstorm winds in SW Louisiana.
A Tornado Emergency was declared. Officials moved quickly to move debris and fallen trees from highways and streets, so that Emergency crews could get through.
Two other tornadoes touched down in the Houston area. Here’s summaries of the EF0 tornadoes at Needville and Pearland.
Here’s storm reports from the Storm Prediction Center for Jan. 24, 2023. Each red dot on the map is a tornado report, each blue dot is a report of thunderstorm wind damage and each green dot is a report of severe hail (1″ in diameter or greater). There were 20 reported tornadoes and 26 reports of wind damage.
As of early Friday morning, there are still 4,869 customers without power in the state of Texas. Most of those power outages are in the Houston area from the tornadoes and severe storms. Father north, there are still 18,871 customers without power in Arkansas and 8,472 in Missouri. Those outages are from snow that fell with the storm system. Here’s some snowfall totals in Arkansas: 16″ Mt. Magazine, 13.3″ Chimes, 11″ Big Flat and Diamond City, 10.5″ Mt. Home, 10″ Mt. View an Harrison, 4.5″ Mammoth Springs.
