EF2 tornado, Lacey to Hennessey, Oklahoma, May 24, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

May 24, 2008

Touchdown

2:45 PM CDT (19:45 UTC)

Lifted

2:56 PM CDT (19:56 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

3.0 miles (4.8 km)

Path width

220 yards (201 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Kingfisher County

Touchdown point

36.137, -98.037

Lift-off point

36.152, -97.982

Record number

0805241345-01

An outflow boundary from overnight thunderstorms was located over parts of northern Oklahoma, roughly from southern Alfalfa county to northern Lincoln county. Convergence along this boundary and afternoon heating allowed thunderstorms to develop during the mid afternoon near and north of the outflow boundary. The most intense thunderstorms developed along the boundary, with less intense thunderstorms just to the north. The supercell thunderstorms that developed along the boundary moved very slowly east. Numerous tornadoes, at least eight in all, were reported with the thunderstorms. Some damage was reported with the tornadoes, although most remained unpopulated areas. The supercells moved east, with other thunderstorms back-building to the west. Large hail eventually became the main threat through the evening hours. Monetary damages were estimated.

The tornado touched down in an open field before damaging farm buildings at the Seaboard Foods Pig Farm. The tornado continued east-southeast, damaging some trees and a trailer before lifting. Monetary damages were not available.

The tornado developed and crossed Highway 132, doing minor damage to grain silos. The tornado continue NE towards an abandoned farm. The roof of the house was removed and windows were broken. A large tree was uprooted at the farm and most of the trees had snapped trunks. After hitting the farm, the tornado crossed county road EW060 and snapped power poles. The tornado continued northeast, doing damage to tree limbs and flattening wheat near county road NS281. Monetary damages were not available.

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:26 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:05 UTC and running to 23:56 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:24 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.

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:45 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

22 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.