Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2003

F0 tornado, Lincoln County, Oklahoma, May 16, 2003

Name: F0 tornado, Lincoln County, Oklahoma, May 16, 2003
Start: 2003-05-16T19:10:00.000Z
Location: Lincoln County, Oklahoma

This F0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Lincoln County on May 16, 2003, touching down at 2:10 PM CDT and reaching 20 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 16, 2003
Touchdown: 2:10 PM CDT (19:10 UTC)
Path length: 0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width: 20 yards (18 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Lincoln County
Touchdown point: 35.920, -96.750
Lift-off point: 35.920, -96.750
Record number: 1147

The warnings

60 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:10 UTC, 60 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)	Expired	Product	Office
07:58 UTC	08:45 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN
08:45 UTC	09:30 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN
08:58 UTC	09:30 UTC	Tornado Warning	OUN
18:10 UTC	19:15 UTC	Tornado Warning	OUN
19:11 UTC	20:15 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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:40 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.

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 16, 2:50 AM CDT, 11 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 16, 2:50 AM CDT, 11 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
250 AM CDT FRI MAY 16 2003

CURRENT AREA OF STORMS WILL LIKELY EXIT MOST OF THE AREA THIS
MORNING...BUT THE DRYLINE WILL REMAIN WEST TODAY. THE MAIN FEATURE
IN THE NEAR TERM WILL BE THE STACKED LOW THAT SHOULD TRAVERSE OK
TODAY WEST TO EAST AND SIT IN THE CENTRAL OK AREA BY EVENING. STORMS
ARE EXPECTED AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON UNDER THE COOL POOL AND THERE WILL
BE MESOSCALE BOUNDARIES AS WELL AS THE FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOW.

AS THIS CIRCULAR SYSTEM SLOWLY PULLS TO THE EAST TONIGHT AND
SATURDAY...POPS WILL GRADUALLY DECREASE WEST TO EAST ACROSS OK AND
NORTH TX. LOW CLOUDS WILL LINGER...ESPECIALLY IN THE NORTH INTO
SATURDAY AFTERNOON. BY SUNDAY WE SHOULD BE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF AN
UPPER RIDGE ON THE SOUTHEAST SIDE OF STRONG SOUTHWEST FLOW. THE
FORECAST REMAINS RAIN FREE UNTIL MONDAY AFTERNOON. BOUNDARY LAYER
MOISTURE SHOULD REMAIN IN PLACE BEHIND TODAYS SYSTEM OVER OUR
AREA...SO A WEAK WAVE TRAVELING ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE UPPER RIDGE
MAY PROVIDE SUFFICIENT CAUSE FOR SHOWERS/STORMS LATE MONDAY AND
MONDAY NIGHT. THIS WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A FRONT ON TUESDAY OR TUESDAY
NIGHT.

WEATHER LATER IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD REMAINS AS PREVIOUSLY FORECAST
WITH A CHANCE FOR RAIN LATE IN THE WEEK.

FCSTID =    9
OKC   75  60  74  56 /  70  30   0   0
HBR   75  57  74  55 /  40  10   0   0
SPS   80  61  75  55 /  40   0   0   0
GAG   64  52  72  53 /  70  30   0   0
PNC   71  57  74  55 /  80  50  20   0
DUA   85  69  78  59 /  70  30  20   0

.OUN...
OK...NONE.
TX...NONE.

Hazardous weather outlook, May 16, 12:00 PM CDT, 2 hours 10 minutes before

OKZ004>048-050>052-TXZ083>090-171200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
1200 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK COVERS NORTHERN...WESTERN...
CENTRAL...AND SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA...AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT...

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK...
THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND
TONIGHT ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK
OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT ACROSS
PORTIONS OF NORTHERN...WESTERN AND CENTRAL OKLAHOMA.

LOCATION...
THE MODERATE RISK IS GENERALLY EAST OF A LINE FROM SEMINOLE...TO
MADILL OKLAHOMA. THE SLIGHT RISK AREA IS WEST OF THE MODERATE RISK
AND EAST OF A LINE FROM MANCHESTER TO CLINTON TO WAURIKA.

TIMING...
THE MOST LIKELY TIME FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE FROM EARLY
AFTERNOON THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS...
STORM SPOTTER GROUPS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL ACROSS THE
RISK AREA SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR WEATHER FORECASTS AND
STATEMENTS AND PLAN FOR SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS FROM EARLY THIS
AFTERNOON THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS.

DISCUSSION...
A STRONG UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER WEST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA EARLY THIS
AFTERNOON CONTINUES TO MOVE EAST ACROSS THE AREA. AT THE SURFACE...
LOW PRESSURE WAS CENTERED OVER CADDO COUNTY OKLAHOMA WITH A WARM
FRONT STRETCHING FROM THE LOW PRESSURE AREA TO NEAR ADA AND ATOKA.
A DRYLINE EXTENDED NORTH TO SOUTH NEAR INTERSTATE 35 FROM NEAR
PURCELL TO MARIETTA. A COLD FRONT WAS ALSO MOVING SOUTHEAST ACROSS
SOUTHWEST OKLAHOMA AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS.

THE LOW PRESSURE AREA AND OTHER SURFACE BOUNDARIES WILL MOVE EAST
ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE DAY. TO THE SOUTH OF THE WARM FRONT AND
EAST OF THE DRYLINE... VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR IS IN PLACE OVER
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO
DEVELOP ALONG THE DRYLINE ACROSS SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA THIS AFTERNOON
AND THE INSTABILITY AND WIND SHEAR WILL SUPPORT SUPERCELL
THUNDERSTORMS IN THIS AREA. THE PRIMARY THREAT WILL BE LARGE HAIL
AND DAMAGING WINDS ALTHOUGH TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE.

FARTHER NORTH AND WEST... CONDITIONS AT LOW LEVELS ARE COOLER AND
DRIER... BUT COLD TEMPERATURES IN THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE
NEAR THE UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM ARE STILL CREATING AN UNSTABLE
ATMOSPHERE AND RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE
AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING.  THE PRIMARY THREAT WILL BE LARGE
HAIL... BUT AGAIN THE WIND SHEAR AT LOW LEVELS WILL SUPPORT
SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS WITH A RISK OF ISOLATED TORNADOES.

BY LATE THIS EVENING THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL IS EXPECTED
TO MOVE EAST OF THE AREA AS THE UPPER LOW MOVES EAST.

PROBABILITY TABLE...
VALID THROUGH 700 AM CDT SATURDAY MAY 17.
PROBABILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS OCCURRING IN THE
              NWS NORMAN COUNTY WARNING AREA...100 PERCENT.
PROBABILITY OF SEVERE STORMS IF STORMS OCCUR...95 PERCENT.

OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER...
NO OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK...
THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE MONDAY AND AGAIN ON THURSDAY.

OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER...
NONE.

THE NEXT SCHEDULED HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED AT 7 AM
SATURDAY.

...SPEG.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 16, 12:58 PM CDT, 1 hour 12 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
1258 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2003

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

0100 AM    WESTOVER                  TX   60 MPH WIND GUST
05/16/03   BAYLOR                         REPORTED BY SPOTTER,
                                          ESTIMATED WIND SPEED

JP

Special weather statement, May 16, 1:24 PM CDT, 46 minutes before

OKZ048-052-161845-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
124 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2003

THIS SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY IS FOR ATOKA AND BRYAN COUNTIES.

STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING SOUTHWEST OF DURANT IN BYRAN
COUNTY AND MAY BECOME SEVERE OVER THE NEXT 15 MINUTES.  THESE
STORMS ARE FORMING IN AN ENVIROMENT FAVORABLE FOR PRODUCING
TORNADOES.  THESE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AROUND 35 MPH.

PEOPLE IN ATOKA AND BRYAN COUNTIES...INCLUDING THE CITY OF DURANT...
SHOULD MONITOR THE WEATHER SITUATION CLOSELY. LISTEN FOR WARNINGS AND
REMAIN ALERT FOR THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

Local storm report, May 16, 1:28 PM CDT, 42 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
128 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2003

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

0115 PM    2 E PRAGUE                OK   TORNADO
05/16/03   LINCOLN                        MICROWAVE TOWER DESTROYED.
                                          REPORTED BY EM

JP

Local storm report, May 16, 1:31 PM CDT, 39 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
131 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2003

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

0116 PM    6 N W WETUMKA             OK   TORNADO
05/16/03   HUGHES                         REPORTED BY WETUMKA PD

JP

Local storm report, May 16, 1:43 PM CDT, 27 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
143 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2003

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

0130 PM    5 NE KINGFISHER           OK   TORNADO
05/16/03   KINGFISHER                     TORNADO REPORTED BY COUNTY
                                          EM

JP

Local storm report, May 16, 2:07 PM CDT, 3 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
207 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2003

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

0202 PM    2 N AGRA                  OK   TORNADO
05/16/03   LINCOLN                        RECEIVED VIA MEDIA REPORT

The air that afternoon

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.

Norman, OK (KOUN), 12:00Z

7.2 hours before the tornado, 98 km from the path. May 16, 2003.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 75 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -328 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 789 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 299 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 204 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.1
0-3 km lapse rate: 3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 00:00Z

4.8 hours after it, 98 km from the path. May 17, 2003.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 61 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 391 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 665 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 39 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:09 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2003 tornado in Oklahoma Every tornado in Oklahoma since 1950 Warnings in force in Oklahoma now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 16, 2003

41 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 16	3:53 AM CDT	F1	Lincoln, OK	2.3	20		$10,000
May 16	5:41 AM CDT	F1	Delaware, OK	3.2	200	2	$1.0 million
May 16	1:05 PM CDT	F1	Lincoln, OK	4.9	40		$20,000
May 16	1:08 PM CDT	F0	Kingfisher, OK	0.3	30
May 16	1:15 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln, OK	0.3	20
May 16	1:20 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln, OK	0.3	20
May 16	1:30 PM CDT	F0	Kingfisher, OK	0.3	20
May 16	1:40 PM CDT	F1	Okmulgee, OK	3.0	100		$100,000
May 16	2:08 PM CDT	F0	Okmulgee, OK	1.0	25		$20,000
May 16	2:15 PM CDT	F0	McIntosh, OK	0.5	25
May 16	2:20 PM CDT	F0	Payne, OK	0.4	25
May 16	2:46 PM CDT	F0	Yell, AR	3.0	30
May 16	2:47 PM CDT	F1	Jackson, AR	5.0	100
May 16	3:08 PM CDT	F1	Jackson, AR	17.0	100
May 16	3:22 PM CDT	F0	Haskell, OK	2.0	40	1	$30,000
May 16	3:43 PM CDT	F1	Haskell, OK	3.0	70		$150,000
May 16	4:06 PM CDT	F1	Faulkner, AR	7.0	100
May 16	4:17 PM CDT	F1	Faulkner, AR	5.0	75
May 16	4:20 PM CDT	F1	Perry, AR	2.4	75
May 16	4:23 PM CDT	F0	Perry, AR	2.3	30
May 16	4:25 PM CDT	F1	Faulkner, AR	6.0	100
May 16	4:31 PM CDT	F0	Perry, AR	1.3	25
May 16	4:35 PM CDT	F1	White, AR	4.5	100
May 16	4:43 PM CDT	F2	White, AR	5.0	150
May 16	4:45 PM CDT	F0	Sebastian, AR	0.2	25
May 16	4:47 PM CDT	F1	Cleburne, AR	10.0	50
May 16	5:01 PM CDT	F0	Logan, AR	3.8	25
May 16	5:06 PM CDT	F1	White, AR	5.5	80
May 16	5:20 PM CDT	F1	White, AR	4.5	100
May 16	5:29 PM CDT	F2	White, AR	5.0	150
May 16	5:58 PM CDT	F1	Jackson, AR	16.0	100
May 16	6:14 PM CDT	F1	Yell, AR	3.4	60
May 16	6:27 PM CDT	F0	Yell, AR	2.2	30
May 16	6:39 PM CDT	F2	Saline, AR	4.7	150
May 16	6:40 PM CDT	F1	Poinsett, AR	5.0	100		$50,000
May 16	6:40 PM CDT	F0	Garland, AR	3.5	30
May 16	7:10 PM CDT	F1	Dallas, AR	16.0	100
May 16	7:24 PM CDT	F0	Pulaski, AR	4.7	25
May 16	7:35 PM CDT	F0	Pulaski, AR	8.2	50
May 16	8:32 PM CDT	F2	Dallas, AR	25.8	500
May 16	9:47 PM CDT	F0	Madison, TX	0.5	20		$10,000

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.