Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2001
F0 tornado, Cordell, Oklahoma, May 5, 2001
This F0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Washita County on May 5, 2001, touching down at 8:15 PM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. 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 5, 2001
- Touchdown
- 8:15 PM CDT (01:15 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.5 miles (0.8 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Washita County
- Touchdown point
- 35.350, -98.950
- Lift-off point
- 35.350, -98.950
- Record number
- 816
What the Weather Service recorded
An off-duty National Weather Service meteorologist observed this brief tornado near Cordell. No damage was observed or reported.
An off-duty National Weather Service meteorologist observed this tornado north of Cordell. Although the tornado lasted for approximately 4 minutes, no structures were affected.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Norman, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 5, 2:40 PM CDT, 5 hours 35 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 5, 2:40 PM CDT, 5 hours 35 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK 240 PM CDT SAT MAY 5 2001 THE UPPER SYSTEM EXPECTED TO INITIATE SEVERE STORMS OVER NORTH TX AND OK TONIGHT WAS MOVING EAST THROUGH NORTHERN NM EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. COORDINATION WITH THE HYDROLOGIST, RECENT HEAVY RAINFALL, AND THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TONIGHT HAVE RESULTED IN A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR PART OF SOUTHWEST OK TONIGHT. REFER TO THE NWS NORMAN HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR DETAILS ON TONIGHTS EXPECTED WEATHER. BY MID-DAY SUNDAY THE DRYLINE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS UPPER SYSTEM IS EXPECTED BE MOVING THROUGH THE CENTRAL PART OF THE STATE WITH THE FRONT ACROSS NORTHWEST OK. THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN IN THE FORECAST SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST OK. AS THE COLD FRONT IS NOT EXPECTED TO MOVE VERY FAR SOUTH OF SOUTHEAST OK, A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND STORMS WILL REMAIN IN THE FORECAST THERE THROUGH MONDAY. A FAST-MOVING MID LEVEL WAVE TRAVELING ACROSS THE NORTHERN PLAINS MAY HELP IN INITIATING SHOWERS AND STORMS NEAR THIS SURFACE FRONT MONDAY. COOLER AND DRIER AIR WILL MOVE ACROSS OK MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT, LEADING TO OVERNIGHT TEMPERATURES SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMALS MONDAY AND TUESDAY MORNINGS. MID-LEVEL MOISTURE ISNT EXPECTED TO GO VERY FAR AND SURFACE MOISTURE WILL BE IN PLACE THE SECOND HALF OF THE WEEK, BUT A BUILDING UPPER HIGH OVER THE SOUTHWEST U.S. SHOULD DIMINISH THE CHANCE FOR RAIN AT LEAST FOR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. BY THURSDAY, THIS RIDGE IS FORECAST TO FLATTEN ALLOWING MID-LEVEL NORTHWEST FLOW TO SET UP ACROSS THE NORTHEAST HALF OF OK. A CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND STORMS RETURNS TO THE FORECAST THE END OF THE WEEK. FCSTID = 9 OKC 61 74 53 72 / 100 20 0 0 HBR 57 73 51 73 / 100 0 0 0 SPS 59 76 55 74 / 100 0 0 0 GAG 53 70 44 71 / 60 0 0 0 PNC 59 72 52 70 / 80 0 0 0 DUA 63 75 59 74 / 80 60 20 20 .OUN... OK...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT ZONES 037-038-044. TX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TOINGHT ZONES 085-086.
In the hours before
Local storm report, May 5, 7:58 PM CDT, 17 minutes before
LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
758 PM CDT SAT MAY 05 2001
TIME (CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0751 PM 4 W CORDELL OK .88 INCH HAIL
05/05/01 WASHITA REPORTED BY AMATEUR
RADIO OPERATOR
0757 PM GRANITE OK 60 MPH WIND GUST
05/05/01 GREER ESTIMATED BY COUNTY
SHERIFFS OFFICE
0757 PM MANGUM OK .75 INCH HAIL
05/05/01 GREER REPORTEDd BY COUNTY
EMERGENCY MANAGER
KTThe surface observations
Clinton (CLK), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of May 5, 2001
5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.