Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 1973

F3 tornado, McClain, Cleveland and Oklahoma counties, Oklahoma, November 19, 1973

This F3 tornado ran 24.2 miles across McClain, Cleveland and Oklahoma counties on November 19, 1973, touching down at 7:30 PM CST and reaching 500 yards wide. It killed 5 people and injured 36, and did $500,000 to $5 million of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mphthis tornado

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F3
Date
November 19, 1973
Touchdown
7:30 PM CST (01:30 UTC)
Path length
24.2 miles (38.9 km)
Path width
500 yards (457 m)
Deaths
5
Injuries
36
Property damage
$500,000 to $5 million
Counties
McClain, Cleveland and Oklahoma counties
Touchdown point
35.130, -97.650
Lift-off point
35.430, -97.450
Record number
980

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Ok Cty/Will Rgrs, OK (KOKC), 00:00Z

1.5 hours before the tornado, 14 km from the path. November 20, 1973.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Ok Cty/Will Rgrs, OK at 00:00Z on 1973-11-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1351 joules per kilogram, CIN -8, lifted condensation level 934 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Ok Cty/Will Rgrs, OK at 00:00Z on 1973-11-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 243 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 89 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1351 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1467 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
934 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
89 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
243 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
1126 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
3.1
Supercell composite
10.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Ok Cty/Will Rgrs, OK (KOKC), 12:00Z

10.5 hours after it, 14 km from the path. November 20, 1973.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Ok Cty/Will Rgrs, OK at 12:00Z on 1973-11-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -4628, lifted condensation level 829 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Ok Cty/Will Rgrs, OK at 12:00Z on 1973-11-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 0 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 0 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4628 J/kg
Surface CAPE
25 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
829 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
0 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
0 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
0 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1973 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 19, 1973

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 194:30 PM CSTF1Meade, KS0.533$500 to $5,000
November 195:15 PM CSTF1Ellis, OK4.340$5,000 to $50,000
November 196:15 PM CSTF1Stafford, KS17.660$50,000 to $500,000
November 196:35 PM CSTF1Barton, KS12.350$50,000 to $500,000
November 197:00 PM CSTF1Stafford, KS0.533$5,000 to $50,000
November 197:40 PM CSTF1Kingfisher, OK5.9502$50,000 to $500,000
November 197:45 PM CSTF2Kay, OK13.7606$500,000 to $5 million
November 198:08 PM CSTF0Reno, KS0.133$5,000 to $50,000
November 198:10 PM CSTF1Kay, OK2.7150$500,000 to $5 million
November 198:45 PM CSTF0McPherson, KS0.133$5,000 to $50,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.