Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2009

EF0 tornado, Pawnee, Oklahoma, February 10, 2009

This EF0 tornado ran 2.6 miles across Pawnee County on February 10, 2009, touching down at 4:35 PM CST and reaching 400 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $30,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
February 10, 2009
Touchdown
4:35 PM CST (22:35 UTC)
Lifted
4:37 PM CST (22:37 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
2.6 miles (4.2 km)
Path width
400 yards (366 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$30,000
County
Pawnee County
Touchdown point
36.290, -96.821
Lift-off point
36.323, -96.800
Record number
0902101635-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms occurred across a large part of eastern Oklahoma during the afternoon and evening hours of the 10th.

A tornado destroyed a barn, damaged several homes, and blew down power poles.

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

The warnings

0 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:35 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:49 UTC and running to 02:10 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:49 UTC02:10 UTCTornado WatchTSA
22:20 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
22:35 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningTSA
22:59 UTC23:32 UTCTornado WarningTSA
23:47 UTC03:45 UTCFlash Flood WarningTSA
00:18 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA

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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:50 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 air that afternoon

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.

Lamont, OK (KLMN), 12:00Z

10.6 hours before the tornado, 69 km from the path. February 10, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lamont, OK at 12:00Z on 2009-02-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -51646, lifted condensation level 2319 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lamont, OK at 12:00Z on 2009-02-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 51 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 64 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-51646 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2319 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
51 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
109 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Stillwater Municipal (SWO), 30 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:53 UTC7052140° 15 kt221000.3
21:53 UTC6556330° 4 kt999.7+RA
21:56 UTC64.457.2320° 7 kt999.7+RA
22:03 UTC62.657.2290° 11 kt151000.3+RA BR
22:11 UTC57.255.4310° 12 kt999.3+GRRA
22:53 UTC55510° 0 kt1000GRRA
23:00 UTC55.451.8340° 5 kt1000RA BR
23:36 UTC55.451.8290° 10 kt1000.3RA
23:48 UTC55.451.8250° 8 kt1001.7+RA BR
23:53 UTC5552210° 5 kt1001.4+RA BR
00:03 UTC55.451.8360° 3 kt1000.3RA BR
00:17 UTC53.651.8340° 4 kt1000.3-RA

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

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 113 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:34 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
21:35 UTCHAIL 0.882 N LangstonLogan, OK
21:55 UTCHAIL 1.75CoyleLogan, OKREPORTED BY COYLE POLICE
22:00 UTCHAIL 1.5CoyleLogan, OK
22:05 UTCHAIL 1.75StillwaterPayne, OK2 BLOCKS WEST OF PERKINS AND LAKEVIEW IN STILLWATER.
22:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Wnw PerkinsPayne, OKWIDESPREAD DAMAGE WAS REPORTED IN AND AROUND THE PERKINS AREA. MOST OF THE DAMAGE OCCURRED WEST AND NORTHWEST OF PERKINS, WITH SEVERAL TIN ROOFS REMOVED. A RADIO TOWER WAS DESTROYED. SEVERAL POWER POLES/LINES WERE BLOWN
22:35 UTCTORNADO3 S PawneePawnee, OKTWO BARNS COMPLETELY DESTROYED. DEBRIS SCATTERING SEEMS TO BE CONSISTENT WITH DAMAGE CAUSED BY A TORNADO.
22:38 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S PawneePawnee, OKSINGLE-WIDE MOBILE OVERTURNED...EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO A DOUBLE-WDE MOBILE HOME. REPORTED AS WIND DAMAGE. LOCATION ESTIMATED.
22:50 UTCTSTM WND GST 623 Ene PawneePawnee, OK
23:01 UTCTSTM WND DMGPawneePawnee, OKLARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN.
23:01 UTCHAIL 11 N PawneePawnee, OK
23:21 UTCHAIL 0.884 Sw StillwaterPayne, OKHAIL ACCUMULATION ON GROUND CAUSING TRAVEL PROBLEMS AT INTERSECTIONS OF 80TH AND COUNTRY CLUB
23:25 UTCHAIL 2.54 N HominyOsage, OK
23:30 UTCHAIL 2.75WynonaOsage, OK
23:34 UTCHAIL 2.75WynonaOsage, OK
23:40 UTCHAIL 1PawhuskaOsage, OK
23:45 UTCHAIL 1PawhuskaOsage, OK
23:57 UTCHAIL 14 S PawhuskaOsage, OKHAIL COVERED THE GROUND
01:30 UTCFLASH FLOOD4 Ne PawneePawnee, OKWATER FLOWING OVER RURAL ROADS...

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of February 10, 2009

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 102:36 PM CSTEF1Oklahoma, OK0.775$1.0 million
February 102:53 PM CSTEF2Oklahoma, OK5.7250
February 103:24 PM CSTEF1Logan, OK1.010
February 103:39 PM CSTEF1Payne, OK9.650
February 106:25 PM CSTEF0Montague, TX0.435$20,000
February 106:45 PM CSTEF4Lone Grove tornado, Oklahoma37.0880846$3.0 million
February 109:15 PM CSTEF1Tarrant, TX0.5100$750,000
February 1010:43 PM CSTEF1Greene, MO5.475$350,000
February 1011:16 PM CSTEF1Wood, TX7.1300$400,000

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.