F1 tornado, Guthrie, Oklahoma, June 13, 1998

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.

Rating

F1

Date

June 13, 1998

Touchdown

6:43 PM CDT (23:43 UTC)

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Logan County

Touchdown point

35.850, -97.470

Lift-off point

35.850, -97.470

Record number

797

Summary of events of June 13, 1998:During the afternoon and evening four supercell thunderstorms developed near a dryline in western Oklahoma and tracked east into central sections of the state. The most significant storm developed in Washita county at approximately 400 pm CST and intensified as it moved east toward central Oklahoma. This storm produced at least six tornadoes as it tracked from Canadian County across Oklahoma County during the early evening. The most damaging tornado (an F2) touched down in northeast Oklahoma City and crossed Interstate 35 near the Frontier City theme park. Other tornadoes damaged the Oklahoma City Boat Club, portions of The Village and Nichols Hills, the Highland Park neighborhood west of Broadway Extension, and the area near May and Grand Avenues in Oklahoma City. Three weak tornadoes also touched down in open country northwest of El Reno and near Yukon. In addition to damaging tornadoes, the storm produced extensive straight-line wind damage from Lake Hefner, across Nichols Hills and The Village, into northeast Oklahoma County. Winds likely exceeded 100 mph in some areas. There were no fatalities and only 21 relatively minor injuries reported in Oklahoma County. The majority of the injuries were sustained at the Frontier City theme park. Earlier, another supercell thunderstorm produced tornadoes near Longdale in Blaine County and 3 miles southwest of Guthrie. Supercells that tracked across Noble County and northern Cleveland County produced large hail and severe winds, but no tornadoes.See preceding individual Storm Data entries for further details and additional reports.

A tornado touched down about 3 miles southwest of Guthrie. Two houses suffered shingle and siding damage. A third house sustained broken windows, a damaged roof, and a broken porch post. A barn was unroofed, an outbuilding was destroyed, numerous fences were broken and a hood was torn off an old pick-up truck. The tornado was rated an F1.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:26 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 11:01 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.

Guthrie (GOK), 5 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Norman radar (KTLX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:44 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 1998 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

44 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.