 This afternoon at approximately 3:12 PM, the Storm Prediction Center issued a tornado watch for the region, which marked the start of widespread severe weather across North Texas. Here's an image of the large funnel cloud (with a tornado likely inside of it). This resulted in a strong tornado in Bowie, TX. Later on during the early evening, a strong tornado was approaching the south side of Bowie. Several photos and videos of the same tornado were appearing all over social media around the same time, so we can make a good estimate that 4:30-5:00pm was the prime time for these tornadoes that were ripping to our northwest.  The blue circled with green represents debris being lifted into the atmosphere. It is evident that Eastern Bowie was hit by this strong tornado.  The environment forecast was nearly perfect for rain-wrapped tornadoes, which are extremely dangerous for storm chasers and curious minds looking for the tornado. Rain-wrapped simply means that the tornado circulation and funnel will be extremely hard (to nearly impossible) to spot, which is why we always stress to heed watches and warnings, EVEN IF you cannot see the hazard.  A chaser caught the perfect window to see the storm from a distance. Even here, you can see the rain surrounding the base because of how high the moisture content in the atmosphere was today. Typically, chasers want moist air at the surface, and dry air just above, which heed highly visible tornadoes and supercell structure.    Unfortunately, this tornado did cause some rather significant damage as it moved through. Here are a couple photos where the tornado had tracked, with multiple homes left in a pile of wood, metal, brick, and other material.
We will provide more updates throughout the week on any tornadoes that moved through North Texas as information becomes available. Damage path, official rating, fatalities, injuries will all be released as more data is collected. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel (Click me) Follow us on Facebook (Click me) Writer: Jay NTXWC is proudly sponsored by: |
