Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 1999
F0 tornado, Madge to Vinson, Oklahoma, May 25, 1999
From Madge to Vinson, this F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Harmon County on May 25, 1999, touching down at 6:15 PM CDT. It killed nobody.
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.
F040 to 72 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- F0
- Date
- May 25, 1999
- Touchdown
- 6:15 PM CDT (23:15 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.1 miles (0.2 km)
- Path width
- 0 yards (0 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Harmon County
- Touchdown point
- 34.970, -99.950
- Lift-off point
- 34.970, -99.950
- Record number
- 1206
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms spawned 6 tornadoes and produced very large hail over portions of western Oklahoma during the evening of the 25th. Fortunately, all of the tornadoes touched down in sparsely populated areas with no known damage. Thus, all were rated F0. The first tornado formed 5 miles north of Madge in Harmon County and was on the ground for only a short period of time. The 2nd tornado was reported by an amateur radio operator 6 miles east of Vinson in Harmon County. The tornado touched down in an open field with no known damage. The 3rd tornado was also witnessed by an amateur radio operator and formed 11 miles west of Mangum in Greer County. The tornado was on the ground for only a short period of time before dissipating. The 4th tornado was reported by Altus EOC in Jackson County, touching down briefly in an open field with no known damage. The 5th tornado was seen about 3 miles west of Altus Air Force Base, also in Jackson County, and dissipated 6 minutes later with no damage. The 6th tornado was observed by a reserve deputy in Manitou in Tillman County, touching down west of Manitou with no known damage. In Altus in Jackson county, hundreds of homes, numerous businesses, and the Altus High School Vo-tech center suffered major damage due to giant hail, occasionally to the size of softballs (4.5 inches in diameter). Significant damage also occurred to wheat and cotton crop in Altus and in Greer County, 2 miles south-southwest of Mangum.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22:44 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 23:10 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 23:41 UTC | 00:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | OUN |
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 19:37 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 surface observations
Childress Municipal (CDS), 67 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:53 UTC | 83 | 61 | 0° 0 kt | 1012.2 | ||
| 22:53 UTC | 81 | 61 | 150° 7 kt | 1012.2 | ||
| 23:53 UTC | 80 | 61 | 0° 0 kt | 1012.9 | ||
| 00:53 UTC | 76 | 64 | 170° 8 kt | 1012.2 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 1999 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of May 25, 1999
16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 25 | 2:19 PM MDT | F0 | Sandoval, NM | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 25 | 4:22 PM CDT | F0 | Hale, TX | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| May 25 | 3:26 PM MDT | F0 | Chaves, NM | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 25 | 5:35 PM CDT | F1 | Jasper, TX | 3.0 | 20 | $120,000 | ||
| May 25 | 5:58 PM CDT | F0 | Randall, TX | 0.3 | 0 | |||
| May 25 | 6:05 PM CDT | F0 | Randall, TX | 1.0 | 0 | $10,000 | ||
| May 25 | 5:17 PM MDT | F0 | Quay, NM | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 25 | 6:31 PM CDT | F0 | Harmon, OK | 0.2 | 0 | |||
| May 25 | 6:38 PM CDT | F0 | Taylor, TX | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| May 25 | 6:51 PM CDT | F0 | Greer, OK | 0.1 | 0 | |||
| May 25 | 7:00 PM CDT | F0 | Runnels, TX | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| May 25 | 7:04 PM CDT | F0 | Greer, OK | 0.2 | 0 | |||
| May 25 | 7:35 PM CDT | F0 | Jackson, OK | 1.5 | 50 | |||
| May 25 | 8:16 PM CDT | F0 | Tillman, OK | 1.5 | 50 | |||
| May 25 | 8:40 PM CDT | F0 | Jones, TX | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| May 25 | 8:55 PM CDT | F0 | Randall, TX | 0.1 | 0 | $40,000 |
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.