EF3 tornado, Camp Houston to Buttermilk, Oklahoma, May 23, 2008

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 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

May 23, 2008

Touchdown

8:59 PM CDT (01:59 UTC)

Lifted

9:19 PM CDT (02:19 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

11.0 miles (17.7 km)

Path width

980 yards (896 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

Counties

Comanche and Woods counties

Touchdown point

36.947, -99.120

Lift-off point

37.099, -99.061

Record number

0805231959-01

Thunderstorms developed during the afternoon ahead of a dry line that was located near the Texas panhandle and Oklahoma border. The thunderstorms quickly became supercells as they moved toward southwest Kansas. Very large hail was the initial threat, although a significant tornado threat became apparent as they neared the Kansas border. Three tornadoes were reported with the thunderstorms, with two of them doing significant damage. The tornadic thunderstorms moved northeast by nightfall, with other less severe thunderstorms developing farther south. Monetary damages were estimated.

An anonymously strong upper level system allowed everything to come together at the surface to produced what is perhaps the biggest tornado outbreak to ever occur in the Dodge City CWA! Fifty-five tornadoes were documented during that afternoon and evening! Some of the tornadoes were very large and damaging. The character of the supercell thunderstorms that day had similarities to the storms that produced the Greensburg tornado a little over a year after. In fact there was one tornado that was just as large and perhaps could have been just as damaging that was headed towards the small Kiowa county town but fortunately turned and dissipated.

The tornado developed and moved predominately over range land. Little or no significant damage was observed until the tornado approached the state line. Widespread tree damage, consistent with an EF2 tornado was noted. The tornado then moved into Comanche County Kansas. Monetary damages were estimated.

This 1/2 mile wide tornado moved out of Oklahoma. EF3+ damaged was based on trees that appeared to be sand blasted. Also, there were trees uprooted, several antique cars that have yet to be found as of late July, 2008 (probably dropped in ravines in the area). An oil tank was carried 2 miles. Several head of cattle were killed. The tornado turned west (left) as it began to dissipate.

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

35 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:24 UTC, 35 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:10 UTC and running to 06:00 UTC.

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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:55 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.

Alva Regional Airport (AVK), 47 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), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:57 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 2008 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

78 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 79 of them

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.