NWS releases full preliminary damage survey of EF-0 tornado in Tyler
Published 11:01 pm Friday, April 21, 2023
- In this screenshot of a video captured by CBS19 Meteorologist Chandlor Jordan, a tornado is spotted in Tyler on Thursday night.
The National Weather Service of Shreveport has released the full report from its preliminary damage survey of a tornado in Tyler.
A weak tornado touched down at 7:05 p.m. Thursday in midtown Tyler and was on the ground for three minutes, according to NWS.
The EF-0 tornado saw maximum winds of up to 80 mph. It traveled less than a mile with a path length of 0.7 mile, and the path was 65 yards wide, according to the survey.
The storm survey and local area spotter footage confirmed the “slow moving but weak” tornado touched down near Lloyd James Funeral Home near the intersection of East 1st Street and South Fleishel Avenue. In this area, numerous small and large limbs were snapped of nearby trees with a few shingles torn off the roof, according to NWS.
Additionally, a large canopy on the front entrance of the funeral home was torn off and throw into a nearby tree.
The tornado then moved just northeast of the UT Health Tyler campus where it crossed East Idel Street and peeled off a portion of a metal roof from a nearby medical building, the damage report stated. A glass canopy was partially lifted up and shattered in front of the medical building, and a nearby hardwood tree had several limbs that were snapped.
The tornado continued northeast along South Fleishel Avenue, where it uprooted a tree that damaged the corner of a nearby home at the end of Woodley Street. It also snapped large limbs off a tree on East Houston Street before lifting at 7:08 p.m.
The NWS survey team are appreciative of local officials who assisted in the efforts.
“A special thanks goes out to the City of Tyler and Smith County Emergency Management, as well as the Southside Bank for their assistance in locating damage for this survey,” NWS said.
NWS also adds the information in this survey is preliminary and could change pending final review.
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EF-0 tornadoes are classified as weak with wind speeds of 65 to 85 mph.
No one was injured in the storm.