EF1 tornado, Okeene, Oklahoma, March 29, 2007

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 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

EF1

Date

March 29, 2007

Touchdown

3:05 PM CDT (20:05 UTC)

Lifted

3:10 PM CDT (20:10 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.3 miles (3.7 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Blaine County

Touchdown point

36.102, -98.357

Lift-off point

36.120, -98.335

Record number

0703291405-01

Showers and thunderstorms developed during the morning hours over central Oklahoma. During the afternoon hours, thunderstorms began to show brief, but persistent signs of rotation, that later resulted in three tornadoes. The most significant tornado of the day struck the western Oklahoma City metro area, producing EF2 damage. Other tornadoes were reported near Okeene, and over northwest Garfield county. Damage was reported with each of these thunderstorms, which included roof damage, tree and power line damage, and automobile accidents. No fatalities were reported, but five direct injuries were reported in western Oklahoma City.

A tornado was reported near Okeene and moved northeast. Damage was first noticed to a barn and grain silo 1 mile east of Okeene. The most substantial damage rated EF1 was noted at a farmstead. A small garage (open bay) was damaged. Approximately 1/3 of its aluminum roof covering peeled off and some roof wood panels were removed. A tree next to the garage had some limbs snapped off. A piece of siding from the barn was wrapped around a tree. A small half-cylinder type garage was also heavily damaged. The north side had a large portion of its siding removed and some of the wood structure were damaged. The east end had a garage door which was blown out and most of the east wall was removed. A grain silo actually lifted off the ground and landed about 100 feet away. Also present were small grain bins, in which one was tipped over and apparently rotated. A large barn had substantial damage to the roof and walls on the east and west ends of the buildings. Also, almost all siding on the north side of the building was removed. A large garage door on the south end of the barn was blown in yet its wiring still held together and the door was hanging by this wiring. Debris from the barn (all of it siding/roofing which was aluminum) was scattered to the northeast 1500-2000 feet. The tornado continued northeast before lifting 2.5 miles east of Okeene. At the strongest point the tornado reached EF1 damage causing an estimated $50 thousand in damage.

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.

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:06 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 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.

Watonga (JWG), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:04 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

2 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.