EF0 tornado, Omega, Oklahoma, August 26, 2009

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

August 26, 2009

Touchdown

6:10 PM CDT (23:10 UTC)

Lifted

6:21 PM CDT (23:21 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

40 yards (37 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Kingfisher County

Touchdown point

35.790, -98.159

Lift-off point

35.790, -98.159

Record number

0908261710-01

Thunderstorms developed during heating of the afternoon over parts of Southern Oklahoma. Temperatures reached into the 90s, making temperature-dew point spreads on the order of 30-40 degrees. Instability was minimal, but a few thunderstorms were able to produce very strong winds, causing some minor damage in Stephens county. |At the same time, numerous thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front that moved into northwest Oklahoma during the afternoon hours of the 26th. These thunderstorms developed through the evening hours, with the aid of convergence along the front, and lift associated with an upper level storm system moving through the central plains. The thunderstorms formed into several complexes due to the presence of numerous outflow boundaries. Surface moisture and instability along and just behind the front were sufficient for the thunderstorms to become severe. The thunderstorms moved off to the east with strong winds and large hail reported. A landspout developed over southwest Kingfisher county, remaining nearly stationary for over 10 minutes. No damage was reported with the landspout.

A landspout tornado was observed in southwestern Kingfisher County. This landspout persisted for approximately 12 minutes and moved very slowly.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Norman radar (KTLX), 95 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:09 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 2009 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.