The National Weather Service released preliminary ratings Sunday for an outbreak of tornadoes that occurred in Valley View, Celina, and Montague County overnight Saturday. On Monday, survey teams were still evaluating damage as the surveys continued.
NWS survey crews said Sunday they found extensive damage in Valley View, in Cooke County, and rated the tornado that touched down along Interstate 35 a "higher-end EF-2" with maximum winds of 135 mph.
Jennifer Dunn, an NWS meteorologist, said at Gov. Greg Abbott's afternoon briefing on Sunday that they haven't confirmed how many tornadoes touched down overnight, but that they have several survey teams out evaluating the damage caused by the thunderstorm.
"We still are not quite exactly sure how many tornadoes there have been," Dunn said. "It's a puzzle piece we're going to have to put together as this circulation persisted and reformed a couple of times."
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Dunn said the area near Valley View is where they were seeing some of the most intense storm damage but that more work will need to be done to finalize the rating of that tornado.
"Here in the Valley View area, where we are right now, is one of our highest-rated areas. We are rating it a higher-end EF-2 with near 135 mph wind," Dunn said. "We still have work to do over the next one to three days to assess how many tornadoes and find additional ratings."
The wind rating, Dunn said, was a preliminary maximum rating for wind speed.
Dunn did not yet have reports on damage from the storm as it passed through Montague, Denton, and Collin counties. She said NWS survey teams may expand their survey to include part of Hunt County.
The NWS said Monday that survey teams were back out again assessing damage in Denton and Collin counties but that considering the amount of damage they've found the surveys may not be completed until Tuesday.
NWS RELEASES FINDINGS FOR MONTAGUE COUNTY, CELINA
The NWS released more tornado findings from survey teams Sunday night, confirming a long-track supercell produced multiple tornadoes. Exactly how many tornadoes occurred is still being determined.
The teams were looking at damage across Montague, Cooke, Denton, and Collin counties.
The teams found that damage in south Montague County, near Forestburg, was consistent with an EF-2 tornado with estimated maximum winds of 125 mph.
Northeast of Celina, a survey team began looking at damage on Sunday and found the damage was consistent with a high-end EF-3 with peak winds estimated up to 165 mph. The NWS cautioned this rating is subject to change with additional surveys and analysis over the coming days.
Survey teams are still assessing damage in Denton and Collin counties and rating information for those areas will be released when the teams have completed their assessments.
The NWS is still collecting damage reports from Hunt County to determine if a survey is needed in that area.
The NWS said complete details including track, length, width and final ratings for all of the tornadoes are expected to be finalized over the next several days.
SIGNIFICANT NORTH TEXAS TORNADO OUTBREAKS
The tornado outbreak overnight Saturday is the most deadly since an EF-4 killed 10 people in North Texas on Dec. 26, 2015. The National Weather Service said a tornado with a width of more than 500 yards was on the ground for more than nine miles between New Hope and Rowlett. The tornado injured more than 460 people and caused $26 million in damage.
