The 1970 Tornado Became a Study of Hidden Vortices

The tornado touched down southwest of downtown around 9:30 p.m., crossed an 8.5-mile path, and lifted near the airport shortly after 10. It killed 26 people, injured more than 1,500, and was rated F5. Those numbers explain the grief; the damage map explains why the storm also became a case study.

Researcher Ted Fujita found that all but one of the deaths fell along narrow 'suction spots.' These were paths cut by smaller vortices rotating inside the larger tornado. In other words, the storm did not move through Lubbock as one smooth wall of wind. Its worst force arrived in tighter, hidden swirls inside the main circulation.