F0 tornado, Cromwell, Oklahoma, May 26, 1997

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   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 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.

Rating

F0

Date

May 26, 1997

Touchdown

6:45 PM CDT (23:45 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

County

Seminole County

Touchdown point

35.350, -96.470

Lift-off point

35.350, -96.470

Record number

1007

Summary of events of May 26, 1997:Severe thunderstorms moved through parts of central and southeastern Oklahoma during the evening of Memorial Day, May 26th, and lasted into the early morning hours of the 27th. In all, eight tornadoes, hail as large as golf balls, and damaging severe thunderstorm winds were reported. No injuries or fatalities occurred as a result of the storms.The only damage reported with any of the tornadoes occurred with the first tornado 1 mile north of Cromwell in Seminole County. At this location, damage was mainly limited to outbuildings and trees and the tornado was rated F0. Since the remaining seven tornadoes resulted in no known damage, they were also rated F0. These tornadoes occurred in Seminole County southwest of Cromwell (17:47 CST), in Hughes County southeast of Dustin (19:00 CST), on the Johnston/Marshall County line between Russett and Madill (20:05 CST), and in Marshall County southwest of Madill (20:19 CST), south of Russett (20:20 CST), west of Little City (20:41 CST), and south of Madill (21:24 CST).In addition to the tornadoes, hail up to 1.75 inches in diameter fell in Pontotoc County northeast of Allen and in Marshall County in and north of Madill. Severe thunderstorm winds damaged trees east of Cloudy and in Cloudy in Pushmataha County. Significant structural damage was also attributed to thunderstorm winds south of Dustin in Hughes County. See preceding individual Storm Data entries for further details and additional reports.

A tornado was seen 1 mile north of Highway 99A on Highway 56. The tornado blew the roof off of a detached garage, destroyed a storage shed and its contents, pulled sections of chain-link fence from the ground, and caused minor tree damage at a residence. A new pickup truck at the site also sustained major damage. On the house itself (a stone structure), only the screen door was damaged. Total damage was estimated at $15,000.

Emergency managment officials reported a tornado moving from southwest of Cromwell to about 1 mile east of Cromwell. No damage was reported along this path.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

15 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:30 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:18 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 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.

Mc Alester Regional (MLC), 81 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Norman radar (KTLX), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:42 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1997 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

25 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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