F0 tornado, Granite, Oklahoma, August 10, 1998

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

August 10, 1998

Touchdown

3:30 PM CDT (20:30 UTC)

Path length

0.3 miles (0.5 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1,000

County

Greer County

Touchdown point

34.970, -99.380

Lift-off point

34.970, -99.380

Record number

998

Scattered severe thunderstorms developed over portions of central and western Oklahoma during the afternoon and evening of the 10th. One small tornado and many occurrences of lightning damage were reported. The tornado, rated an F0, was witnessed by several persons east of Lake Creek Road near Granite in Greer County. The tornado was on the ground for less than one minute as it knocked down a few trees and blew several long feeders a short distance on a farm. Severe thunderstorm winds downed large tree limbs onto some wires in Apache in Caddo County knocking out power to 150 residents for 4 hours, while in Mountain View in Kiowa County, lightning struck a utility pole knocking out power to 300 residents for 3 hours. Also in Kiowa County, near Hobart, a wind gust of 77 mph was observed. Two power poles were also downed on US 183 just south of Oklahoma 9 near the Gotebo fire site. Lightning struck 2 oil tanks 3 miles east of Sterling in Comanche County setting them ablaze. Numerous power outages were also reported leaving many residents without power for several hours. Lightning also struck in Seminole in Seminole County. A television antenna was struck by lightning causing a television and numerous breakers to explode. The coax cable going into the house and the exterior siding were also damaged. Lastly, lightning caused damage in Duncan in Stephens County. Lightning struck a power line on the north side of Duncan knocking power out to 500 residents for 2 hours. Lightning also struck a transformer on the east side of Duncan knocking power out to 78 residents for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

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

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

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:49 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

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.