Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 1986

F1 tornado, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, May 16, 1986

This F1 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Oklahoma County on May 16, 1986, touching down at 10:44 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, 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 mphthis tornado

    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 mph

    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
F1
Date
May 16, 1986
Touchdown
10:44 PM CDT (03:44 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$500,000 to $5 million
County
Oklahoma County
Touchdown point
35.450, -97.450
Record number
326

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
02:50 UTC03:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
03:26 UTC04:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
03:45 UTC04:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
04:20 UTC07:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningOUN
04:30 UTC05:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

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

3.7 hours before the tornado, 15 km from the path. May 17, 1986.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Ok Cty/Will Rgrs, OK at 00:00Z on 1986-05-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2930 joules per kilogram, CIN -2, lifted condensation level 856 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 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 1986-05-17The 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 81 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
2930 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-2 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3594 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
856 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
102 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
5.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

8.3 hours after it, 15 km from the path. May 17, 1986.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Ok Cty/Will Rgrs, OK at 12:00Z on 1986-05-17Temperature 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 -9739, lifted condensation level 628 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 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 1986-05-17The 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 40 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
-9739 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
628 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1986 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 16, 1986

31 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 165:10 AM CDTF1Smith, KS18.0100$50,000 to $500,000
May 164:00 PM CDTF1Clay, KS9.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 164:55 PM CDTF1Comanche, KS0.2100$500 to $5,000
May 165:20 PM CDTF0Macon, IL0.210
May 165:20 PM CDTF0Sangamon, IL0.210
May 165:25 PM CDTF0Sangamon, IL0.210
May 166:00 PM CDTF0Swisher, TX0.230
May 166:04 PM CDTF0Briscoe, TX11.0100
May 166:12 PM CDTF0Swisher, TX22.0100
May 166:15 PM CDTF1Piatt, IL0.510$500 to $5,000
May 166:33 PM CDTF0Hall, TX0.230
May 166:33 PM CDTF0Donley, TX0.230
May 167:35 PM CDTF0Cottle, TX0.150
May 167:48 PM CDTF0Foard, TX5.0200
May 168:10 PM CDTF0Foard, TX5.0150
May 168:18 PM CDTF1Alfalfa, OK5.030$5,000 to $50,000
May 169:00 PM CDTF0Washita, OK0.223
May 169:10 PM CDTF0Custer, OK0.550
May 169:13 PM CDTF0Hardeman, TX0.210
May 169:23 PM CDTF0Wilbarger, TX0.210
May 169:35 PM CDTF1Caddo, OK0.250$5,000 to $50,000
May 169:45 PM CDTF0Hardeman, TX0.210
May 169:51 PM CDTF1Hardeman, TX2.0150$5,000 to $50,000
May 169:53 PM CDTF0Wilbarger, TX0.210
May 1610:30 PM CDTF0Caddo, OK0.250
May 1610:50 PM CDTF0Wilbarger, TX0.210
May 1611:00 PM CDTF0Tillman, OK0.250$5,000 to $50,000
May 1612:09 AM CDTF0Lincoln, OK0.250
May 1612:10 AM CDTF1Garvin, OK0.573$50,000 to $500,000
May 1612:10 AM CDTF1Pottawatomie, OK0.573$5,000 to $50,000
May 1612:30 AM CDTF0Haskell, OK0.273$500 to $5,000

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.