Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2005

F0 tornado, Stephens County, Oklahoma, June 4, 2005

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Stephens County on June 4, 2005, touching down at 6:53 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
June 4, 2005
Touchdown
6:53 PM CDT (23:53 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Stephens County
Touchdown point
34.630, -97.970
Lift-off point
34.630, -97.970
Record number
843

The warnings

12 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:41 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:04 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
22:39 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
23:06 UTC23:30 UTCTornado WarningOUN
23:13 UTC23:45 UTCTornado WarningOUN
23:41 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningOUN
00:31 UTC00:54 UTCTornado WarningOUN

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 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:03 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 surface observations

Halliburton Field Airport/Duncan (DUC), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:52 UTC84.273.4160° 13 kt1003VCTS
22:12 UTC84.273.4160° 14 kt201003.4VCTS
22:32 UTC84.273.4150° 15 kt181002.4VCTS
22:52 UTC84.273.4140° 15 kt201002.7VCTS
23:12 UTC84.273.4140° 15 kt1002.7TS
23:32 UTC84.273.4140° 19 kt261001.7VCTS
23:52 UTC84.273.4160° 16 kt241003TS
00:13 UTC73.45910° 10 kt261004.7VCTS
00:32 UTC75.262.6160° 6 kt1004.4
00:52 UTC7766.260° 16 kt221004.7-TSRA
01:12 UTC71.662.6190° 10 kt181004.4-VCTSRA
01:32 UTC75.271.6150° 27 kt361003-VCTSRA

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

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 97 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:52 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 2005 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 4, 2005

43 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 41:18 AM CDTF0Chautauqua, KS0.5110
June 41:43 AM CDTF0Montgomery, KS0.5110
June 46:35 AM CDTF0Cass, MO0.550
June 46:50 AM CDTF1Johnson, MO8.0752$1.1 million
June 412:30 PM MDTF0Keith, NE4.025
June 42:54 PM CDTF0Waushara, WI0.275
June 43:05 PM CDTF0Waushara, WI0.150
June 43:30 PM CDTF0McPherson, NE0.125
June 44:15 PM CDTF0McPherson, NE0.125
June 44:18 PM CDTF2Brown, KS3.0100$400,000
June 44:27 PM CDTF1Clark, WI17.050$600,000
June 44:27 PM CDTF0Marathon, WI1.275
June 44:39 PM CDTF0Marathon, WI1.3100
June 45:17 PM CDTF0Taylor, WI0.220$30,000
June 45:30 PM CDTF1Pottawatomie, KS0.5100$250,000
June 45:32 PM CDTF0Andrew, MO1.050
June 46:06 PM CDTF0Marathon, WI0.125
June 46:07 PM CDTF0Comanche, OK3.5150
June 46:20 PM CDTF0Marathon, WI0.125
June 46:45 PM CDTF0Stephens, OK0.120
June 46:48 PM CDTF1Gentry, MO0.5100
June 46:50 PM CDTF1Worth, MO15.0100$180,000
June 46:57 PM CDTF0Cowley, KS0.555
June 47:05 PM CDTF0Stephens, OK0.275$1,000
June 47:05 PM CDTF0Cowley, KS3.055
June 47:06 PM CDTF0Gentry, MO1.050
June 47:10 PM CDTF1Harrison, MO5.0100
June 47:13 PM CDTF0Osage, OK1.075$50,000
June 47:15 PM CDTF1Ringgold, IA1.050
June 47:38 PM CDTF0Archer, TX0.230
June 47:40 PM CDTF0Gentry, MO0.550
June 47:44 PM CDTF0Doniphan, KS1.050
June 47:46 PM CDTF0Buchanan, MO7.550$300,000
June 47:53 PM CDTF0Andrew, MO3.050
June 48:02 PM CDTF0Greenwood, KS0.5110
June 48:18 PM CDTF0Marathon, WI0.125
June 48:27 PM CDTF0Taylor, WI0.325$10,000
June 47:28 PM MDTF0Jefferson, ID0.230$10,000
June 48:54 PM CDTF0Daviess, MO0.550
June 49:45 PM CDTF0Union, SD0.150
June 49:50 PM CDTF0Plymouth, IA1.050
June 410:02 PM CDTF0Sioux, IA0.150
June 410:22 PM CDTF0Sioux, IA0.150

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.