F1 tornado, Sapulpa to Tulsa, Oklahoma, May 3, 1999

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

May 3, 1999

Touchdown

12:08 AM CDT (05:08 UTC)

Path length

7.0 miles (11.3 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$8.5 million

Counties

Tulsa and Creek counties

Touchdown point

36.020, -96.070

Lift-off point

36.150, -95.950

Record number

1081

Summary of events for May 3-4 1999:Following a week-long blocking weather pattern, a strong upper level trough finally moved out of the southwestern U.S. Interactions with a dryline in western Oklahoma and a slow-moving cold front brought the largest tornado outbreak in Oklahoma history from the afternoon of May 3 through the afternoon of May 4. Most notable was the F5 tornado that moved through southern parts of the Oklahoma City metro area. While the loss of life and the heaviest property damage was limited to central Oklahoma, eastern Oklahoma got into the act with a significant number of tornadoes.While there were dozens of individual storms on May 3 and 4, there are two storms in eastern Oklahoma that stand out as outstanding. The first outstanding storm moved northeast along the I-44 corridor on the evening of May 3, causing F3 damage to Stroud in Lincoln County. The storm went on to cause significant F1 damage in Sapulpa and southwestern portions of the city of Tulsa and millions of dollars in damage.The second outstanding storm got its start in southeast Oklahoma well south of McAlester. This storm moved northeast across Pushmataha, Latimer, Haskell, LeFlore and Sequoyah Counties, producing several damaging tornadoes along the way. The final tornado touched down in Sequoyah County and tracked 39 miles to near Fayetteville, AR, producing F3 damage in an unpopulated forest in Adair County.Following a very wet April that saturated area grounds, another slow-moving weather system made flash flooding another serious problem to deal with as most rainfall quickly ran off into creeks, streams and mainstem rivers. One flash flood in Vinita caused millions of dollars in damage following the flooding of dozens of homes.

An F0 tornado moved through Sapulpa's central business district on Dewey Street, causing mostly cosmetic damage in the form of broken storefront windows and glass on the sidewalk.

The same system that earlier caused a destructive tornado in Stroud and a less destructive tornado in southwest Creek County produced an F1 tornado which first touched down in the north side of Sapulpa near OK Hwy 97 and Interstate 44. The tornado then skipped through an industrial area before moving across I-44. From there, the tornado travelled northeast parallel to and just south of the New Sapulpa Road (OK Hwy 66), taking out a string of homes and businesses before eventually reaching Tulsa County. This tornado tracked a total of 7 miles, 5.5 miles of which was in Creek County. The Hilton Mobile Home Park was especially hard-hit, where about 15 mobile homes were damaged or destroyed. Twenty-four residents of the mobile home park were treated on the scene for minor injuries, but none required a hospital visit. Needless to say, this tornado also blew down numerous power lines and trees. All in all, along its path in Creek County, this tornado heavily damaged 12 homes and caused light to moderate damage to about 150 others. Twenty mobile homes were heavily damaged, and 25 businesses were damaged. Total property damage in Creek County is estimated at $5.5 million. For more information on this tornado, see the Tulsa County Tornado entry for information on the last 1.5 miles of its track.

A tornado that originally touched down on the north side of Sapulpa traveled northeast, eventually reaching Tulsa County. This tornado caused considerable damage in several neighborhoods on the southwest side of the city of Tulsa. The majority of the damage was confined to an area roughly bounded on the east by 33rd West Avenue, on the west by 41st West Avenue, on the north by Union Avenue, and on the south by 65th Street South. The most publicized damage occurred at the Carbondale Assembly of God Church (2135 West 51st Street), where the second story of the building was reduced to rubble. Remington Elementary School (2524 W. 53rd Street) was damaged to the point where students had to finish the last two weeks of class elsewhere. The West Regional Library (2224 W. 51st Street) lost about one-third of its roof, and Fire Station #26 sustained minor damage. Four industrial businesses sustained damage, and 70 homes were damaged by the tornado. Damage in Tulsa County is estimated at $2 million. For more information on the Creek County portion of this tornado, see the Tornado entry for Creek County. The combined path length through Creek and Tulsa Counties is 7 miles.

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

36 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:32 UTC, 36 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:15 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 High Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:51 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.

Tulsa/Lloyd Jones (RVS), 6 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 1999 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

70 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 71 of them

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.