The 1995 severe weather season was very active...with a record number of tornadoes in the Texas Panhandle. This late season event just put the icing on the cake!
The storm which produced two tornadoes near Claude developed as a very high based storm over the northern side of Amarillo. The storm slowly strengthened as it moved southeast. This is one of the first glimpses of the storm while northwest bond on U.S. Highway 287. The storm displayed LP type characteristics.
The first tornado was photographed from a location just southeast of Claude on Highway 287. The tornado began about 8 miles southwest of town, and persisted for about 15 minutes.
Baseball size hail fell in the city of Claude as the tornado began to rope out and dissipate.
This view shows the LP supercell southeast of Claude at sunset. The dust rising off the ground under the left side of the updraft is caused by the RFD.
The second tornado occurred 5 miles southeast of Claude, and was photographed along Highway 287 in the small community of Goodnight. Although the visible part of the funnel did not contact the ground...a debris cloud was visible on the ground below.
