Christmas Tornadoes

The National Weather Service completed their survey of the tornado damage in Houston County from the Christmas Day storms. They found one as a minimal EF-0 tornado, but the second a powerful EF-3. The following is an illustration of the location of the twisters, plus the assessment from the National Weather Service.

...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 12/15/12 TORNADO EVENT...

.SOUTHERN HOUSTON COUNTY TORNADO # 1...

RATING:                 EF-3
ESTIMATED PEAK WIND:    150 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/:  7.0 MILES
PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/:   300 YARDS
FATALITIES:             0
INJURIES:               0

START DATE:             DEC 25 2012
START TIME:             9:25 AM CST
START LOCATION:         5 WSW PENNNIGTON / HOUSTON COUNTY /TX
START LAT/LON:          31.1674/ -95.3132

END DATE:               DEC 25 2012
END TIME:               9:35 AM CST
END LOCATION:           2 N PENNINGTON / HOUSTON COUNTY / TX
END_LAT/LON:            31.2290 -92.2356

SURVEY SUMMARY: WORST OF THE DAMAGE WAS ALONG HIGHWAY 287 A MILE
NORTH OF PENNINGTON WHERE A FEED STORE AND RESTAURANT WERE
COMPLETELY DESTROYED WITH DEBRIS SCATTERED IN FIELD TO THE EAST.
WITNESSES OBSERVED A WIDE DARK CLOUD MOVING ACROSS THE PATH
SCATTERING DEBRIS. SEVERAL HOMES AND TRAILERS WERE SEVERELY
DAMAGED ALONG THE PATH...MOSTLY EF-1 AND EF-2 DAMAGE...BUT
THERE WERE NO SERIOUS INJURIES.

.TORNADO # 2...

START DATE:             DEC 25 2012
START TIME:             9:40 AM CST
START LOCATION:         1 NNW PENNNIGTON / HOUSTON COUNTY /TX

END DATE:               DEC 25 2012
END TIME:               9:41 AM CST
END LOCATION:           1 NNW PENNNIGTON / HOUSTON COUNTY /TX

RATING:                 EF-0
ESTIMATED PEAK WIND:    75 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/:  0.3 MILES
PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/:   30 YARDS
FATALITIES:             0
INJURIES:               0



BRIEF TOUCHDOWN OBSERVED BY POLICE OFFICER NEAR SCENE OF
EARLIER TOUCHDOWN ALONG ROUTE 287. SOME DEBRIS LOFTED BUT
LITTLE ADDITIONAL DAMAGE TO STRUCTURES.

EF SCALE: THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES
INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES.

EF0...WEAK......65 TO 85 MPH
EF1...WEAK......86 TO 110 MPH
EF2...STRONG....111 TO 135 MPH
EF3...STRONG....136 TO 165 MPH
EF4...VIOLENT...166 TO 200 MPH
EF5...VIOLENT...>200 MPH*

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