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   You are at NWS Houston/Galveston » Research Projects » October 23 Tornado Outbreak (1997) » Track Maps

Tornado Track Maps




Eleven separate tornadoes touched down on October 23 in southeast Texas. Many of these tornadoes were spawned from the same supercell. Every tornado that formed had a tornado warning in effect before the damage was produced. Average lead time was 24 minutes between tornado warning issuance and tornado touchdown, ranging from 4 minutes to 58 minutes. No deaths occurred and only one injury was reported. In the map above, tornadoes are numbered in the chronological order in which they formed.
  1. Touched down at 2:00 PM in Sugarland. The tornado was mostly F0 with some F1 damage. The tornado path length was 3 miles long and 1/4 mile wide at its strongest stage. Over 1 million dollars in damage to homes.
  2. At 3:22 PM a tornado touched down in northern Walker County near Hwy 75. This tornado destroyed one home and heavily damaged a second. This was a F1 tornado with a path length of 2 miles and 50 yards wide.
  3. At 3:32 PM the same supercell that produced the tornado at Sugarland spawned a second tornado near Crosby. The tornado first touched down on the east shore of Lake Houston and moved northeast into extreme western Liberty County. This tornado was mostly F0 and F1 with some F2 damage at Foley Rd and Dallas Rd where a boat house was severely damaged. An 18 Wheeler in the same area was turned over and moved 50 feet by the tornado. This tornado was on the ground for 12 miles and damage path was 1/4 mile wide at its strongest stage.
  4. At 3:43 PM, a new supercell spawned a short lived tornado south of Bellville in Austin County. Only trees were damaged by this tornado.
  5. At 4:07 PM the Crosby Tornadic thunderstorm spawned a short lived tornado near Kenefick. This tornado was on the ground for less than 2 miles damage was mostly tree damage and minor roof damage. This was a F0 tornado.
  6. At 4:25 PM another tornado was spawned by this same supercell. This F0 Tornado was short and narrow and damage was confined to trees.
  7. At 5:00 PM an F2 tornado touched down southwest of Midway in Montgomery County. This was probably the most significant in strength and length that occurred this day. The tornado was on the ground for 25 miles and the width of the damage was 1/4 mile at its strongest point. Several homes and mobile homes received major damage. There was one injury when a young boy was in a mobile when the tornado picked it up and completely demolished the mobile home as it was wrapped around a tree. Damage to trees was extensive with many trees being snapped off above the ground. This storm was surveyed from the air and had continuous tree damaged from Midway to south of Shepherd in southern San Jacinto County.
  8. At 5:15 PM an F0 tornado touched down in the Bear Creek Community in San Jacinto County. This tornado was the result of the Midway tornadic thunderstorm splitting and the left moving storm moving over Bear Creek. Damage was mostly trees but a volunteer fire department building was also heavily damaged.
  9. A new supercell spawned a short live tornado over Conroe with flag poles at Conroe High School Football Stadium bent over. As the storm passed just south of Conroe Airport the ASOS recorded 57 mph winds from the south. This was a F0 tornado and touched down at 522 PM.
  10. Supercell that spawned tornado at Conroe spawned a second tornado along Hwy 105 near Cut-N-Shoot. This tornado moved along Hwy 105 with a path length of 4 miles. This was a F1 tornado with damage to homes...businesses and even one school received minor damage. This supercell continued moving east and followed much the same path as the earlier tornado that started near Midway. It is possible this supercell produced another tornado across eastern Montgomery County into southern San Jacinto County but it would be difficult to distinguish between the two storms.
  11. This supercell did eventually produce one more tornado in Polk County. A F0 tornado touched down near Segno and moved northeast to near Dallardsville and continued northeast to near the Polk/Tyler County line.
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