National Weather Service Confirms Last Week’s Tornadoes

EAST TEXAS — The National Weather Service in Shreveport has confirmed two tornadoes in East Texas. According to KETK, one released photo (left) shows an EF-1 tornado that touched down in Gregg and Harrison Counties on April 9. The twister was captured on camera near Highway 259 and Eden in Longview. A second confirmed tornado is pictured (right) in Northern Cherokee County. That was listed as an EF-2 tornado.

An EF-2 tornado touched down at 6:38 p.m. Thursday about 3.5 miles northeast of Mount Selman in rural Cherokee County, the report said. Measuring 340 yards wide, the twister traveled 1.77 miles and reached wind speeds of between 105 and 115 miles per hour. Then, 25 minutes later, the storm reached downtown Longview.

At 7:10 p.m. an EF-1 tornado touched down about 1.75 miles north of downtown Longview. Measuring 335 yards wide, the twister traveled 1.32 miles and reached wind speeds of between 95 and 105 miles per hour before moving north toward Harrison County.

NWS reports that at 7:20 p.m. a second EF-1 tornado touched down about 6.5 miles northwest of Hallsville. Measuring 760 yards wide, the tornado traveled 4.54 miles and reached wind speeds of more than 100 miles per hour.