How many tornados hit city remains big mystery By JIM BARLOW Avalanche-Journal In the frightening hours after the tornado hit, survivors and researchers pondered a still-unsolved mystery: How many tornados ravaged downtown Lubbock?
Damage was extensive. One report said as many as three tornados converged and joined as one for the blitz of destruction between downtown and Lubbock Municipal Airport. Another suggested a meandering tornado that looped in the downtown area. And now? “I’m convinced there was one big tornado,” James R. McDonald, director of Tech’s Center for Disaster Research, said early this year. “There may have been a second tornado, but a monster tornado creates strong inflow into the main funnel. I don’t believe it was a looping tornado like so many people believe. “In a big, monstrous, circulating system, a lot of different things can happen,” McDonald said. “It was dark, I don’t know if we’ll ever know the answer to that.” The night of terror included hail the size of grapefruit and a tornado that traveled along or near the ground south of the city for two miles and 1 1/2 hours before the downtown was hit. Since the tornado, Tech researchers – the same ones that scrutinized the damaged downtown a
