Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 1992

F2 tornado, Murray and Pontotoc counties, Oklahoma, May 11, 1992

This F2 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Murray and Pontotoc counties on May 11, 1992, touching down at 1:50 PM CDT and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 to $50,000 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 mphthis tornado

    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
F2
Date
May 11, 1992
Touchdown
1:50 PM CDT (18:50 UTC)
Path length
3.0 miles (4.8 km)
Path width
150 yards (137 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
Counties
Murray and Pontotoc counties
Touchdown point
34.550, -96.900
Lift-off point
34.580, -96.820
Record number
170

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
18:22 UTC19:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
19:37 UTC20:45 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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:13 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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

6.8 hours before the tornado, 88 km from the path. May 11, 1992.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 1992-05-11Temperature 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 -8230, lifted condensation level 736 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, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 1992-05-11The 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 -129 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 56 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
-8230 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
736 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-129 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-53 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 00:00Z

5.2 hours after it, 88 km from the path. May 12, 1992.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 1992-05-12Temperature 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 -6738, lifted condensation level 2262 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, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 1992-05-12The 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 54 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 47 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
-6738 J/kg
Surface CAPE
384 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2262 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
54 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
83 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
8.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:47 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1992 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 11, 1992

34 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 112:30 AM CDTF0Tulsa, OK3.550$5,000 to $50,000
May 113:20 AM CDTF0Muskogee, OK0.2308$500 to $5,000
May 1112:20 PM CDTF0Canadian, OK6.073
May 1112:25 PM CDTF0Kingfisher, OK0.550
May 111:25 PM CDTF0Garvin, OK2.050$500 to $5,000
May 111:35 PM CDTF1Russell, KS1.0100$50 to $500
May 111:57 PM CDTF1Russell, KS0.573
May 112:10 PM CDTF0Russell, KS0.573
May 112:10 PM CDTF1Hughes, OK7.0123$5,000 to $50,000
May 112:15 PM CDTF2Pontotoc, OK5.0150$5,000 to $50,000
May 112:55 PM CDTF3Coal, OK12.01501$50,000 to $500,000
May 112:55 PM CDTF1Coal, OK1.050$500 to $5,000
May 113:20 PM CDTF1Pittsburg, OK10.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 113:40 PM CDTF2Coal, OK10.0300$50,000 to $500,000
May 114:00 PM CDTF4Pittsburg, OK10.04003$50,000 to $500,000
May 114:14 PM CDTF2Marshall, OK2.010013$500,000 to $5 million
May 114:15 PM CDTF0Coal, OK4.073
May 114:24 PM CDTF0Marshall, OK2.050$500 to $5,000
May 114:45 PM CDTF1Pittsburg, OK9.0300
May 114:58 PM CDTF0Kay, OK0.550
May 115:00 PM CDTF1Latimer, OK6.0300$500 to $5,000
May 115:00 PM CDTF1Pittsburg, OK0.2100
May 115:15 PM CDTF2Atoka, OK16.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 115:20 PM CDTF2Latimer, OK16.04001$50,000 to $500,000
May 115:20 PM CDTF0Kay, OK0.550
May 115:25 PM CDTF2Bryan, OK1.0100$50,000 to $500,000
May 116:32 PM CDTF2Hunt, TX0.2200$5,000 to $50,000
May 116:40 PM CDTF1Hunt, TX0.110
May 117:15 PM CDTF1Bell, TX1.0200
May 118:50 PM CDTF1Rains, TX4.0150$5,000 to $50,000
May 119:00 PM CDTF2Hopkins, TX4.0400$5,000 to $50,000
May 119:29 PM CDTF0Rains, TX0.110$500 to $5,000
May 1111:07 PM CDTF1Gregg, TX0.110$500 to $5,000
May 1111:43 PM CDTF0Harrison, TX0.110$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.