8/18/2009 DISC: TX/CO/NM/OK/KS

[Jason Bolt]

CNN is reporting a tornado touched down close to noon in Beaumont causing widespread damage and 10 injuries. Reported damage to Kohls, WalMart, Macy's in a shopping area. I was not following the weather today but the theme of the news coverage seems to be the whole "there was no warning" thing and they are reporting there was no warning issued for the storm nor a watch for the area. If this is the case its pretty interesting.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/live__tornado_strikes_dowlen_shopping_area.html

 

[Helen Rossington]

The kfdm webpage is struggling with the high traffic....

http://www.kfdm.com/news/responding-33622-department-fire.html

 

[Pat Darrow]

Mountain tornado reported by KOAA, near the town of Lake George, CO. Nice photos of it, too. Building damage reported.

www.koaa.com

 

[Jay McCoy]

Very nice cell just east of Tucumcari, NM. Good couplet and a well defined hook but no tor warning yet. Wesley Lugibyhl is right under the storm rfeporting a rotating wall clud and Steve Miller is racing west to catch up to it. Hopefully Steve will be able to stream once hes near it.

 

[Helen Rossington]

The kfdm webpage is struggling with the high traffic....

http://www.kfdm.com/news/responding-33622-department-fire.html

A nice video of the funnel/tornado has been added (Captured on someones Blackberry!)

http://video.kfdm.com/m/25951698/viewer-catches-funnel-cloud-on-blackberry.htm

 

[Jay McCoy]

local tv chasers reporting a tornado near the Texas/New Mexico state line on I-40. Steve Miller is on the storm but his feed isnt working my guess due to bad data coverage.

 

[Jason Bolt]

I am confused... no reports of this damage showing up on SPC and no mention on NWS Houston.

 

[Jay McCoy]

I am confused... no reports of this damage showing up on SPC and no mention on NWS Houston.

Beaumont is in the Lake Charles NWS coverage area not Houston. Here is tghe rpriliminary damage survey..
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lch/temp/081809PNS.php

And here is the SPC report.

18573 NW BEAUMONT JEFFERSON TX30119418*** 1 INJ *** POSSIBLE TORNADO IN AND AROUND THE PARKDALE MALL AREA. MEDIA REPORTS THE THE TORNADO BUSTED WINDOWS AND DAMAGED SOME EXTERIOR WALLS AT PARKDALE MALL. ACCO (LCH)



Total of 10 people hurt. Rated an EF1.

 

[Jason Bolt]

Yeah I saw it on SPC finally but it wasn't on there when I posted.

 

[terra seright]

Bust for us, we got on it too late, and ended up in Dumas, via Tascosa Road/385/722... The rain was really heavy, though, and the wind was awesome. We saw no hail, even though we were right in the middle of it. Lots of flooding and some wind damage. We moved a 6-inch thick tree branch out of the road in Dumas, before coming home.

The lightning gave us a wonderful show on the way home, striking three towers north of
Amarillo on one stroke.

I got crap for photos, since my camera is malfunctioning--guess it's time for a new one. I needed an excuse for a better set-up anyway.

 

[Sam Shamburger]

Yeah I saw it on SPC finally but it wasn't on there when I posted.

Actually it was - the LSR was issued at 237 pm, and I saw it myself on the SPC page. An updated LSR was issued at 955 pm:


PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
955 PM CDT TUE AUG 18 2009

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

0157 PM TORNADO 3 NW BEAUMONT 30.11N 94.18W
08/18/2009 F1 JEFFERSON TX NWS STORM SURVEY

*** 10 INJ *** TORNADO OCCURRED IN BEAUMONT AROUND THE
WEST END AND PARKDALE MALL AREA. NWS STORM SURVEY FOUND
TORNADO DAMAGE BEGINNING JUST WEST OF KOHLS DEPARTMENT
STORE AND EXTENDING TO THE EAST PARKING LOT OF PARKDALE
MALL...WITH A PATH LENGTH OF ONE MILE AND WIDTH OF 100
YARDS. DAMAGE TO ROOFS OF SEVERAL DEPARTMENT STORES. FOUR
CARS FLIPPED OVER AND DAMAGE TO DOZENS OF OTHERS.


This was a very interesting event - a brief, small tornado that formed in an deep, moist tropical environment common for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana this time of year, characterized by very high precipitable water values (2.5 inches on the 18th) and little to no vertical wind shear. Funnel clouds and waterspouts are common in the coastal counties/parishes of southeast Texas and southern Louisiana from May-October, and likely some of these are brief tornadoes that go unreported or unseen.

For unknown reasons, this particular storm, out of the hundreds of thunderstorms that form every day in southeast Texas during the summer, decided to produce a tornado on top of and near the biggest shopping mall in Beaumont. The only notable factor with this thunderstorm was a dramatic increase in lightning around the time of the tornado.

This will be a good case study for my office (NWS Lake Charles)!