F2 tornado in Floyd County, Texas

F2 Tornado South Plains.Several power poles were snapped in half or blown over. The telephone poles surveyed were blown over in a variety of patterns, south to north direction, southwest to northeast direction, and a west to east direction. In addition, several center pivots were either blown over or twisted and two vehicles were flipped over in a field from a south to north direction. The Tornado produced the most damage shortly before and after crossing State Highway 207.This tornado was the parent or main tornado involved in what is known as a multi-vortex tornado. At times, this tornado was greater than one-half mile in width. Large tornadoes sometimes undergo a process where the flow inside the tornado becomes disrupted, but does not dissipate. The result is a turbulent circulation, or vortex, where smaller and typically weaker tornadoes develop and rotate around the parent or much broader circulation. The following South Plains tornado was one of these smaller and weaker tornadoes associated with this multi-vortex tornado.

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms occurred across portions of the Texas panhandle and the South Plains of West Texas on Thursday May 12, 2005.The weather pattern on this day was highly conducive for severe thunderstorm and tornado development. A southward moving cold front early in the day became nearly stationary by afternoon as a strong flow of moisture overspread the area from the southeast.Numerous waves of severe thunderstorms developed throughout the afternoon on Thursday and continued well into the after midnight hours on Friday. During this long duration event, between the hours of 4:30 PM and 10:00 PM, several tornadoes occurred across the area.The National Weather Service in Lubbock, TX, dispatched a damage survey team to assess reports of tornadoes and associated damage.