Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 1974

F3 tornado, Tulsa, Wagoner, Rogers and Mayes counties, Oklahoma, June 8, 1974

This F3 tornado ran 48.9 miles across Tulsa, Wagoner, Rogers and Mayes counties on June 8, 1974, touching down at 6:50 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 42, and did $5 million to $50 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
June 8, 1974
Touchdown
6:50 PM CDT (23:50 UTC)
Path length
48.9 miles (78.7 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
42
Property damage
$5 million to $50 million
Counties
Tulsa, Wagoner, Rogers and Mayes counties
Touchdown point
36.000, -96.100
Lift-off point
36.220, -95.270
Record number
566

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.

Norman, OK (KOUN), 12:00Z

11.8 hours before the tornado, 184 km from the path. June 8, 1974.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 1974-06-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 221 joules per kilogram, CIN -73, lifted condensation level 594 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 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, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 1974-06-08The 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 289 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 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
221 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-73 J/kg
Surface CAPE
118 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
594 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
289 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
446 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 00:00Z

0.2 hours after it, 184 km from the path. June 9, 1974.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 1974-06-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1491 joules per kilogram, CIN -46, lifted condensation level 1283 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 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, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 1974-06-09The 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 105 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 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
1491 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-46 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1426 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1283 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
105 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
3.2
0-3 km lapse rate
7.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Tulsa International Airport(Aw) (TUL), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:00 UTC8274180° 18 kt26994.6
23:00 UTC8174180° 18 kt995.6TSRA
00:00 UTC8175180° 16 kt23996.6-TSRA
00:01 UTC TSRA
00:27 UTC320° 16 kt25997.6TSRA
01:00 UTC736650° 10 kt20993.9-TSRA

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1974 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 8, 1974

35 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 82:42 PM CDTF3Oklahoma, OK8.925014$500,000 to $5 million
June 83:11 PM CDTF2Oklahoma, OK4.550$5,000 to $50,000
June 83:18 PM CDTF3Oklahoma, OK10.2600$500 to $5,000
June 83:30 PM CDTF1Garfield, OK0.223$5,000 to $50,000
June 84:15 PM CDTF0Butler, KS11.4200
June 84:30 PM CDTF0Rice, KS5.2100$500 to $5,000
June 84:35 PM CDTF1Oklahoma, OK2.5100$5,000 to $50,000
June 84:48 PM CDTF3Oklahoma, OK9.0127$5,000 to $50,000
June 84:50 PM CDTF0Clay, IL0.110
June 84:55 PM CDTF4Creek, OK29.040014150$500,000 to $5 million
June 84:55 PM CDTF0White, IL0.110
June 85:46 PM CDTF3Lincoln, OK6.81,3008$500,000 to $5 million
June 85:55 PM CDTF1Lincoln, OK1.550$50 to $500
June 86:03 PM CDTF2Lincoln, OK0.11,500$5,000 to $50,000
June 86:10 PM CDTF0Elk, KS0.1100
June 86:15 PM CDTF0Peoria, IL0.110
June 86:20 PM CDTF3Lincoln, OK2.5350$5,000 to $50,000
June 86:35 PM CDTF2Creek, OK4.3100$5,000 to $50,000
June 86:40 PM CDTF2Tulsa, OK5.460$5,000 to $50,000
June 86:45 PM CDTF2Seminole, OK11.8450$500,000 to $5 million
June 86:50 PM CDTF3Tulsa, OK63.6100280$5 million to $50 million
June 87:00 PM CDTF4Lyon, KS37.51,7606177$5 million to $50 million
June 87:05 PM CDTF3Seminole, OK29.91,300$50,000 to $500,000
June 87:50 PM CDTF2Pottawatomie, OK2.0800$5,000 to $50,000
June 87:55 PM CDTF0Macon, IL0.110
June 88:00 PM CDTF0Gentry, MO0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 88:30 PM CDTF2Creek, OK14.4100$50,000 to $500,000
June 89:00 PM CDTF0Crawford, KS4.3200
June 810:14 PM CDTF3Delaware, OK2.7150$50,000 to $500,000
June 810:30 PM CDTF1Newton, MO1.01506$500,000 to $5 million
June 810:30 PM CDTF2Craig, OK3.8100$500,000 to $5 million
June 810:40 PM CDTF0Jasper, MO0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 810:40 PM CDTF1Newton, MO2.050
June 811:00 PM CDTF1Nodaway, MO10.1400$5,000 to $50,000
June 811:24 PM CDTF1Pittsburg, OK1.067

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.