F1 Tornado in Bethany and Warr Acres
A multiple-vortex tornado which caused mostly F0 damage with pockets of
high-end F1 damage tracked from near the Glade and NW 38th, across NW
50th and Rockwell, and finally to Hammond and NW 59th. Most damage was
in the F0 category to trees and roof shingles. Several pockets of F1
damage were noted embedded within the path, indicative of possible
multiple-vortices. Most structures that received F1 damage were
structures with susceptibilities to high wind. These included several
churches, a self-storage facility, airport hangars at Wiley Post
Airport, several warehouses, a few small homes, and several businesses.
In each of these cases, one could draw the conclusion that the
near-destruction of the structure would conclude at least F2 damage or
greater. However, surrounding damage to other structures and trees, and
evidence of failure points (large windows or doors upwind) leads us to
conclude that the damage was no higher than the high end of the F1
range. The damage path length was about 1.5 miles, and
about 0.5 mile wide.
Surrounding the multiple-vortex tornado was a wider and much longer
swath of straight-line wind damage from the rear-flank downdraft - with
all damage blown from southwest to north east. The RFD damage path went
from just west of Frisco Rd. between SW 29th and SW15th in Yukon, across
Rt. 4 and Reno, across the Xerox Factory, the south side of Lake
Overholser including the south and east shoreline communities, across
woodlawn park, across the aforementioned tornado area, and finally
dissipating northeast of Northwest Expwy and Meridian. Another small
pocket of just tree limb damage was noted in Nichols Hills, also
associated with the RFD. The RFD damage path was about 12- miles long,
and up to two miles wide at points. On the beginning and final 2-4
miles, damage was very spotty. Concentrated in the middle 4 miles, the
damage was more widespread.
Damage photos for the Bethany/Warr Acres tornado are available here and here.
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