Power Outage in Tarzan, TX

A thunderstorm moved over Martin County and produced strong winds ten miles northeast of Tarzan on a farm. Two old wooden barns were destroyed, and a 20 by 20 foot portable metal building was overturned. There was an estimate of about ten power poles down, and large tree limbs were broke. The cost of damage is a rough estimate.

This tornado first did damage to 7 power poles about 4.5 miles southwest of Tarzan; this was confirmed by contacting the utility company in the area the following day. The estimated time of damage according to radar at this location was around 2020 CST. At 2032 CST, the tornado then tracked east northeastward and impacted a COOP observer's farm about 3 miles southeast of Tarzan, TX damaging multiple pieces of farm equipment, storage tanks and removing 3 roofs from multiple structures. It then continued on its same path snapping 3 power poles about a mile west of Lenorah, TX. The estimated time of damage according to radar was sometime around 2036 CST. This was the last known location of the tornado, although another tornado redeveloped with the same supercell about 20 minutes later. Please see the attached images.

A large funnel cloud was reported by a trained spotter around 2045 CST about 5 miles SSE of Tarzan. It is possible that the funnel was actually a tornado considering the damage to the power poles done upstream.

A tornado developed in Martin County in open fields north of County Road D4800 and east of County Road D2651. Based on spotter reports, the tornado was visible at 8:02 pm CDT just south of CR D4800 and west of Farm to Market Road 829 (FM 829), south-southeast of Patricia. According to spotter reports, it took on a stove-pipe like shape and continued to move to the east-southeast along FM 829. A few minutes later, the tornado pulled an oil pump jack and well head from the ground. The pump jack was estimated to weigh about 35,000 pounds by an oil company representative. The well head was anchored in the ground by an additional 35,000 pounds of weight from pipe below the ground. Southward along FM 829, four power poles were snapped four to five feet above ground and an additional six poles farther south were blown over to the east due to rear flank downdraft winds. Another couple of minutes later, an oil heater treater weighing approximately 12,000 pounds was blown over. The damage survey team classified the damage that occurred between 8:02pm CDT and 8:07pm CDT, when the oil heater treater was blown over, as F2 intensity damage. After blowing over the oil heater, the tornado became rain-wrapped and crossed County Road 4600, just west of County Road D3401. Five power poles were knocked down on County Road D3401. Based on information received from both spotters and chasers, the tornado dissipated at 8:14pm CDT, just west of Texas Highway 137. During the remainder of the tornado's path, it remained mainly over open country. The damage survey team calculated the width of the tornado to be 130 yards near the end of its life. However, the track was estimated to be between 200 and 300 yards during earlier stages of its life. The path length was calculated to be just over six miles long.

The storm which produced the tornado quickly evolved from a classic supercell structure to a high precipition supercell as the occlusion process occured. This transition resulted in a broad swath of very strong and damaging southwest to west winds which crossed Highway 349. The most intense damage occurred along the stretch of Highway 349 from the intersection with 176 to about 6 miles south of that intersection. This damage correlated with a strong low level divergent pattern in radar velocity products, indicative of an intense downburst in the forward flank downdraft of the storm. These winds blew down numerous power poles (up to twenty-five) from the intersection of Highways 349 and 176, south to ten miles south of that intersection. One metal light pole, which was snapped at the base, was rated to withstand 80 MPH winds.