F0 tornado, Haileyville, Oklahoma, May 30, 2001

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 30, 2001

Touchdown

7:56 PM CDT (00:56 UTC)

Path length

0.2 miles (0.3 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Pittsburg County

Touchdown point

34.830, -95.570

Lift-off point

34.830, -95.570

Record number

765

An F0 tornado touched down briefly just south of Haileyville. No damage was reported.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:05 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.

NWS Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 30, 4:05 PM CDT, 3 hours 51 minutes earlier.

EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
405 PM CDT WED MAY 30 2001

...ADDED TORNADO WATCH 329 TO SE OK ZONES...

...ROUTINE ISSUANCE OUT SHORTLY...

COMPLEX THAT BROUGHT RAIN TO MUCH OF THE AREA EARLIER WAS
DIMINISHING AS IT PUSHES EAST INTO CENTRAL AR. OTHER ACTIVITY WAS
OCCURRING ACROSS CENTRAL/ERN KS IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE UPPER LOW.

AS FOR ADDITIONAL CONVECTION ACROSS OUR AREA... MAIN FOCUS FOR SRN
ZONES WILL BE OUTFLOW BOUNDARY CURRENTLY SITUATED OVER SRN OK IN THE
VICINITY OF THE RED RIVER. SURFACE LOW WAS LOCATED ACROSS NE
KS...WITH ATTENDANT COLD FRONT EXTENDING INTO CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST
OK. THIS FRONT LOOKS TO OFFER A CHANCE OF ADDITIONAL STORMS ACROSS
AREAS NORTH OF I-40...THOUGH INSTABILITIES HAVE BEEN HAMPERED
SOMEWHAT DUE TO CLOUD COVER. LIS IN THE -10 TO -12 HAVE BEEN NOTED
ACROSS NRN TX IN AREAS THAT HAVE BENEFITED FROM AFTERNOON SUN. STILL
PLENTY OF INSTABILITY ACROSS SE OK TO KEEP MENTION OF SVR IN ZONES
TONIGHT. AVN AND ETA ARE IN AGREEMENT WITH REGARDS TO S/W DROPPING
SE FROM CO AND SWINGING ACROSS TX OVERNIGHT. HEAVIEST RAINS
OVERNIGHT SHOULD BE CONFINED TO FAR SRN OK AND NRN TX WHERE UPPER
SUPPORT WILL BE MAXIMIZED. DESPITE LOW FFG VALUES...WILL HOLD OFF ON
ISSUING FFA FOR NOW ACROSS NE OK/FAR NW AR WITH HEAVY RAIN THREAT
TO THE SOUTH.

SFC FRONT AND S/W PUSH OFF TO THE EAST TOMORROW AS SFC HIGH PRESSURE
QUICKLY SETTLES OVER THE AREA. NEXT CHANCE FOR STORMS APPEARS TO BE
FRIDAY. WINDS SHIFT AROUND TO THE SW ON FRI OUT AHEAD OF A SFC FRONT
THAT APPROACHES FORM THE NORTH LATE IN THE AFTERNOON FRIDAY. LAPSE
RATES WILL BE STEEP BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON AS H5 VORT AND ASSOCIATED
COLD AIR POCKET BRUSH THE AREA. WILL KEEP SAT AND SUN DRY...BUT WILL
ADD SLIGHT CHANCE FOR STORMS ON MONDAY AS 12Z AVN HAS FOLLOWED 00Z
MRF WITH AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT AND S/W. SFC HIGH SETTLES IN
BEHIND FRONT...SO DRY WX IN STORE FOR TUES-WED.

FCSTID = 23

.PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...
TUL   60  78  58  83 /  40  10   0   0
FSM   62  82  59  86 /  50  20   0   0
MLC   62  80  58  85 /  50  20   0   0
BVO   59  78  55  83 /  40  10   0   0
FYV   60  75  50  81 /  50  10   0   0
BYV   60  75  50  80 /  50  10   0   0
MIO   60  75  53  81 /  40  10   0   0
MKO   61  78  59  83 /  40  10   0   0
F10   61  79  58  84 /  40  10   0   0
HHW   62  81  59  85 /  50  20   0   0

.TSA...
AR...NONE.
OK...TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 900 PM CDT WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES
OKZ049...OKZ053...OKZ073...OKZ075>076.

In the hours before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
751 PM CDT WED MAY 30 2001

....DELAYED REPORTS....

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1140 PM    BURBANK                   OK    WIND DAMAGE
05/29/01   OSAGE                           LARGE TREE LIMBS BROKEN

1150 PM    FORAKER                   OK    60 MPH TSTM GUST
05/29/01   OSAGE

1150 PM    FORAKER                   OK    1 INCH HAIL
05/29/01   OSAGE

0500 AM    6 SSW PETTIT              OK    FLOOD
05/30/01   CHEROKEE                        INDIAN ROAD FLOODED

0908 AM    BOX                       OK    FLOOD
05/30/01   SEQUOYAH                        FLOODED ROADS VCNTY BOX

0915 AM    HENRYETTA                 OK    FLOOD
05/30/01   OKMULGEE                        MANY AREA ROADS

0925 AM    OKEMAH                    OK    FLOOD
05/30/01   OKFUSKEE                        AREA ROADS

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.

Mc Alester Regional (MLC), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 121 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:54 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 2001 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.