F0 tornado, Ames, Oklahoma, September 10, 1999

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

September 10, 1999

Touchdown

6:55 PM CDT (23:55 UTC)

Path length

1.0 miles (1.6 km)

Path width

0 yards (0 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Major County

Touchdown point

36.250, -98.180

Lift-off point

36.250, -98.180

Record number

636

Scattered severe thunderstorms developed during the afternoon and evening of the 10th over portions of northwest, central, and southern Oklahoma. One tornado was reported and was captured on video in Ames in Major County, by a student from the University of Oklahoma. The tornado traveled a distance of 1 mile, but caused no damage (F0). Straight-line winds caused damage at the Ardmore Industrial Park in Carter County 2 miles northeast of Gene Autry, where a gust of 89 knots (102 mph) was measured. One aircraft hangar was completely destroyed. Several aircraft were overturned, and three were destroyed. A man suffered a broken back and tailbone when attempting to right an overturned plane. Several other hangars and buildings received roof damage, including the control tower, a newly completed office building, the airpark fire station, and the Ardmore Truck Driving School. Damage was estimated at 2 million dollars. In Murray County just west of Davis, a large sign was blown down at the Chickasaw Trading Post, and an awning and several cars were damaged at the Snak-Shak. In Davis, numerous power lines and trees were reported down. The roof of a home was torn off, and the Gordon White Lumber Company also received heavy roof and siding damage. Other reports of wind damage included a 300 foot communications tower that was blown down one mile south of Taloga in Dewey County, where a home also received roof damage. In Canadian County, downed trees, power lines, fences, and roof damage were reported throughout the western and southern portions of Yukon. Signs were blown down and a trailer was overturned on Interstate 40 in the vicinity of Yukon. In Pontotoc County, power line poles were reported down 10 miles north of Ada, while power lines were blown down near Byng and 2 miles south of Fittstown. Power lines were also reported down in Enid (on the 1000 block of North Van Buren Street) in Garfield County and in Sasakwa in Seminole County. In Oklahoma County, lightning struck a barn in Edmond, causing a portion of the barn to explode, scattering debris onto an occupied car parked along I-35. The driver of the vehicle and one passenger received cuts and bruises. Elsewhere in Edmond, heavy rains resulted in the flooding of Second Street underneath a railroad overpass. This area was blocked off after a vehicle stalled in four feet of water.

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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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 1999 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.