F0 tornado, Boynton, Oklahoma, May 6, 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

May 6, 1998

Touchdown

6:21 PM CDT (23:21 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Muskogee County

Touchdown point

35.650, -95.570

Lift-off point

35.650, -95.570

Record number

1018

Summary of events for May 6:Numerous severe thunderstorms developed over eastern Oklahoma during the late afternoon and evening hours of May 6. Many of these thunderstorms developed rotation with some storms ultimately producing tornadoes. The first thunderstorms of the day developed over central Oklahoma and then moved eastward toward Okfuskee County after 430 PM CDT, traversing the counties along and just north of I-40 through 730 PM CDT before exiting into Arkansas to the east of Stilwell and Sallisaw. These thunderstorms produced large hail, numerous reports of funnel clouds, and two brief tornado touchdowns in Muskogee County. Other severe thunderstorms developed behind the first cluster, producing severe weather primarily in Creek and Okmulgee Counties from 700 PM to 830 PM CDT.Other severe thunderstorms developed rapidly around 600 PM CDT along a weak cold front across the northern border counties of Oklahoma. These storms primarily produced large hail. Further south in southeast Oklahoma, a cap of warm air in the mid-levels of the atmosphere prevented thunderstorm development until around 700 PM CDT with the approach of an upper level disturbance. Once thunderstorms developed in Pittsburg County, they rapidly became severe and began rotating. These storms moved east across Haskell and northern Le Flore Counties through 900 PM CDT, producing large hail, numerous reports of funnel clouds, several brief tornado touchdownsand a tornado producing considerable damage in the small town of Calhoun in northwestern Le Flore County. At the time of the Calhoun tornado, the WSR-88D near Fort Smith had its first algorithm-induced tornado vortex signature (TVS).

Brief tornado touchdown. No known damage or injuries.

Brief tornado touchdown in open country

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

7 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:14 UTC, 7 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 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.

Muskogee/Davis Field (MKO), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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

7 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.