Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2004

F1 tornado, Mazie, Oklahoma, April 22, 2004

This F1 tornado ran 6.4 miles across Mayes County on April 22, 2004, touching down at 4:55 PM CDT and reaching 60 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 of property damage.

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.

  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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
April 22, 2004
Touchdown
4:55 PM CDT (21:55 UTC)
Path length
6.4 miles (10.3 km)
Path width
60 yards (55 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Mayes County
Touchdown point
36.120, -95.350
Lift-off point
36.150, -95.230
Record number
840

What the Weather Service recorded

A F1 tornado touched down just northeast of Mazie and lasted until it lifted just east of Murphy. Much of the path contained of F0 damage consisting of roof damage to a home, a broken window in a home and damage to outbuildings. F1 damage occurred near the Neosho River where a mobile home was overturned and several large trees were snapped off.

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

The warnings

28 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:27 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
07:10 UTC07:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
21:27 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningTSA
22:26 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningTSA

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:04 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 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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

9.9 hours before the tornado, 158 km from the path. April 22, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2004-04-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -78041, lifted condensation level 660 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2004-04-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -74 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 60 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-78041 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
660 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-15 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

2.1 hours after it, 158 km from the path. April 23, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2004-04-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 112 joules per kilogram, CIN -140, lifted condensation level 785 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2004-04-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 336 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 70 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
112 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-140 J/kg
Surface CAPE
47 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
785 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
70 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
336 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
543 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
5.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Claremore Regional Airport (GCM), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:10 UTC75.264.4160° 5 kt1007.8
20:30 UTC75.264.4160° 7 kt1007.8
20:50 UTC7766.2150° 7 kt1007.5
21:10 UTC7766.2100° 6 kt1007.1
21:30 UTC71.664.440° 10 kt141007.5
21:50 UTC73.464.470° 8 kt1007.8-TSRA
22:10 UTC75.266.260° 8 kt1008.1VCTS
22:30 UTC75.266.250° 9 kt1007.8
22:50 UTC75.264.460° 10 kt1008.1VCTS
23:10 UTC71.664.440° 7 kt1007.8
23:30 UTC71.664.450° 7 kt1007.8
23:50 UTC71.662.630° 9 kt1007.8

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

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 25 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:55 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 trackEvery 2004 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 22, 2004

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 2210:25 AM CDTF0Shelby, TN0.1100$30,000
April 223:53 PM CDTF0Wagoner, OK1.6150
April 224:01 PM CDTF0Wagoner, OK4.1200$30,000
April 225:38 PM CDTF0Wagoner, OK1.280
April 225:58 PM CDTF0Muskogee, OK80.080
April 226:02 PM CDTF0Muskogee, OK2.0200
April 226:21 PM CDTF0Seminole, OK0.120
April 227:22 PM CDTF1Washington, AR0.575
April 2210:26 PM CDTF0Johnson, AR13.140

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.