MAY 11, 1970
LUBBOCK, TEXAS
Tornado Strength: F5
Width: 1.5 Miles
Path: 8.5 Miles
Time of Day: 9:35 p.m.
Deaths: 26
Injuries: 1500
Significance: Helped in the
development of the Fujita
Tornado Damage scale;
gave birth to the Wind
Science and Engineering
Center at Texas Tech
University
Width: 1.5 Miles
Path: 8.5 Miles
Time of Day: 9:35 p.m.
Deaths: 26
Injuries: 1500
Significance: Helped in the
development of the Fujita
Tornado Damage scale;
gave birth to the Wind
Science and Engineering
Center at Texas Tech
University
 | |  | |  |
The May 11, 1970 Lubbock Tornado should not have happened. The
thunderstorm that produced the F5 killer built upon a retreating dryline.
Thunderstorm development is common on an advancing dryline, the line
between dry air and moist air. As it moves eastward, it serves as a focal point for
thunderstorm formation. However, thunderstorm development on a retreating
dryline is less common. Tornado development is extremely rare.
But the May 11, 1970 storm that did develop points to the complexity of the
atmosphere. Despite the retreating dryline at the earth's surface, the air above
was anything but stable. (A detailed discussion of the atmosphere on May 11
can be found here.
The Lubbock tornado event was actually two different tornadoes from two
different storms*. The first tornado, ranked an F???, set down on the east side
of the city and traveled 5 miles. The second tornado was a monster, touching
down in the heart of the city, traveling 8 and a half miles and killing 26 people.
Storm towers began popping up around 6 p.m. The weather bureau office,
located to the northeast of Lubbock at the airport, began getting radar returns at
6:30 p.m.
Thunderstorms approached the city, mild at first. But by 8 p.m., storm number
one was dropping golf ball to grapefruit - sized hail. At 8:10 p.m. an off duty
policeman spotted a funnel cloud seven miles south of the airport. The Lubbock
radar showed a hook echo at 8:15 p.m.
The first tornado touched down 15 minutes later near Broadway and Quirt Ave
(now Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd). It took and east north east path, eventually
joining up with US Hwy 82/62 and following it out of town.
Another tornado formed later north of Crosbyton (37 miles east of Lubbock) and
ripped the roof off a barn.
Another thunderstorm moved into the city, bringing hail and heavy rains. At 9:35
p.m., Lubbock radar showed a hook near 19th St. and the Brownfield Highway.
At the same time, a funnel cloud was spotted by police and the sirens were
activated. The funnel dangled near Texas Tech University, finally touching down
just outside the southeast corner of the campus at 19th St. and University Ave. It
quickly grew into a mile and a half wide monster.
The tornado cut a swath northeast towards the city's downtown area, plowing
up a housing edition. At one point, it veered left and doubled back towards
Texas Tech. At the northeast corner of the campus, the twister turned sharply
and resumed it's previous course.
Downtown, skyscrapers were damaged, with one being physically twisted by
the tornado. From there, it tore through an industrial section and wrecked
damage outside the Lubbock Country club.
The twister then made a run for the Lubbock Weather Bureau office. The radar
lost power at 9:49 p.m. when the bureau’s emergency generator quit. Six
minutes later, office personnel had to take cover as the tornado went right over
them. By then, the funnel had shrunk to a quarter-mile wide.
It lifted just north of the airport after 10 p.m.
The second tornado killed 26 people and injured 1500. It stayed on the ground
for almost half an hour and traveled 8.5 miles. It damaged 15 square miles of the
city. It damaged and destroyed 10,000 vehicles and 119 aircraft. A total of 430
houses and 600 apartment unites were leveled, 250 businesses damaged or
destroyed, and an additional 8,800 housing units damaged. It caused $250
million dollars in damage ($1.25 billion in 2005 dollars)
Apart from the tornado, 3.25 inches of rain was recorded at the airport.
The Lubbock tornado helped three areas of tornado research. Professors at
Texas Tech, witnessing the awesome devastation, formed the Wind Science and
Engineering Center at Texas Tech University to study the effects of tornado and
hurricane winds.
In addition, study of the tornado's damaged helped, in part, with the
development of the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale. Famous tornado researcher
Ted Fujita surveyed the damage from the air and drew up maps of the tornado's
path.
Fujita’s maps helped to further develop his theory that some monster tornadoes
have multiple vortices. The parent tornado will sometimes have small, stronger
vortices orbiting it. The aerial view of the Lubbock damage path clearly showed
small areas of intense destruction in curved lines running at right angels to the
main destruction path.
Of even more interest is a map Fujita drew up marking the tornado deaths. 25 of
the 26 people killed died within the more intense suction swaths.
(Source: NWS Office in Lubbock. Web article on the Lubbock Tornado and a
2005 News Release about the Lubbock Tornado)
(*This is how I understood the information, but I have not confirmed that both
tornadoes came from two different storms).
thunderstorm that produced the F5 killer built upon a retreating dryline.
Thunderstorm development is common on an advancing dryline, the line
between dry air and moist air. As it moves eastward, it serves as a focal point for
thunderstorm formation. However, thunderstorm development on a retreating
dryline is less common. Tornado development is extremely rare.
But the May 11, 1970 storm that did develop points to the complexity of the
atmosphere. Despite the retreating dryline at the earth's surface, the air above
was anything but stable. (A detailed discussion of the atmosphere on May 11
can be found here.
The Lubbock tornado event was actually two different tornadoes from two
different storms*. The first tornado, ranked an F???, set down on the east side
of the city and traveled 5 miles. The second tornado was a monster, touching
down in the heart of the city, traveling 8 and a half miles and killing 26 people.
Storm towers began popping up around 6 p.m. The weather bureau office,
located to the northeast of Lubbock at the airport, began getting radar returns at
6:30 p.m.
Thunderstorms approached the city, mild at first. But by 8 p.m., storm number
one was dropping golf ball to grapefruit - sized hail. At 8:10 p.m. an off duty
policeman spotted a funnel cloud seven miles south of the airport. The Lubbock
radar showed a hook echo at 8:15 p.m.
The first tornado touched down 15 minutes later near Broadway and Quirt Ave
(now Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd). It took and east north east path, eventually
joining up with US Hwy 82/62 and following it out of town.
Another tornado formed later north of Crosbyton (37 miles east of Lubbock) and
ripped the roof off a barn.
Another thunderstorm moved into the city, bringing hail and heavy rains. At 9:35
p.m., Lubbock radar showed a hook near 19th St. and the Brownfield Highway.
At the same time, a funnel cloud was spotted by police and the sirens were
activated. The funnel dangled near Texas Tech University, finally touching down
just outside the southeast corner of the campus at 19th St. and University Ave. It
quickly grew into a mile and a half wide monster.
The tornado cut a swath northeast towards the city's downtown area, plowing
up a housing edition. At one point, it veered left and doubled back towards
Texas Tech. At the northeast corner of the campus, the twister turned sharply
and resumed it's previous course.
Downtown, skyscrapers were damaged, with one being physically twisted by
the tornado. From there, it tore through an industrial section and wrecked
damage outside the Lubbock Country club.
The twister then made a run for the Lubbock Weather Bureau office. The radar
lost power at 9:49 p.m. when the bureau’s emergency generator quit. Six
minutes later, office personnel had to take cover as the tornado went right over
them. By then, the funnel had shrunk to a quarter-mile wide.
It lifted just north of the airport after 10 p.m.
The second tornado killed 26 people and injured 1500. It stayed on the ground
for almost half an hour and traveled 8.5 miles. It damaged 15 square miles of the
city. It damaged and destroyed 10,000 vehicles and 119 aircraft. A total of 430
houses and 600 apartment unites were leveled, 250 businesses damaged or
destroyed, and an additional 8,800 housing units damaged. It caused $250
million dollars in damage ($1.25 billion in 2005 dollars)
Apart from the tornado, 3.25 inches of rain was recorded at the airport.
The Lubbock tornado helped three areas of tornado research. Professors at
Texas Tech, witnessing the awesome devastation, formed the Wind Science and
Engineering Center at Texas Tech University to study the effects of tornado and
hurricane winds.
In addition, study of the tornado's damaged helped, in part, with the
development of the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale. Famous tornado researcher
Ted Fujita surveyed the damage from the air and drew up maps of the tornado's
path.
Fujita’s maps helped to further develop his theory that some monster tornadoes
have multiple vortices. The parent tornado will sometimes have small, stronger
vortices orbiting it. The aerial view of the Lubbock damage path clearly showed
small areas of intense destruction in curved lines running at right angels to the
main destruction path.
Of even more interest is a map Fujita drew up marking the tornado deaths. 25 of
the 26 people killed died within the more intense suction swaths.
(Source: NWS Office in Lubbock. Web article on the Lubbock Tornado and a
2005 News Release about the Lubbock Tornado)
(*This is how I understood the information, but I have not confirmed that both
tornadoes came from two different storms).