Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2010

EF0 tornado, Cashion to Navina, Oklahoma, May 10, 2010

From Cashion to Navina, this EF0 tornado ran 6.7 miles across Kingfisher and Logan counties on May 10, 2010, touching down at 4:46 PM CDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
May 10, 2010
Touchdown
4:46 PM CDT (21:46 UTC)
Lifted
4:54 PM CDT (21:54 UTC)
On the ground
8 minutes
Path length
6.7 miles (10.8 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Counties
Kingfisher and Logan counties
Touchdown point
35.726, -97.743
Lift-off point
35.726, -97.743
Record number
1005101546-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A significant outbreak of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes affected a large part of northern, central, and southern Oklahoma. Tornadoes were most numerous across central and southern Oklahoma, with significant damage occurring over many areas. |Severe thunderstorms erupted by mid afternoon across northern and western Oklahoma. Given the potent combination of ingredients in place, storms began to produce tornadoes quickly after initiation. Storm motions of 50 to 60 mph were common.||During the mid afternoon hours, severe weather was confined to northern Oklahoma. It was there a long track supercell storm produced tornadoes near the Kansas border - including one rated EF3 - from near Wakita to north of Braman.||The capping inversion that had delayed thunderstorm development into central Oklahoma weakened, allowing for explosive supercell development along the dry line along and west of the Interstate 35 corridor. Rapid development and intensification was common with the late afternoon storms, with storms becoming tornadic within a very short time after initiation. This round of storms would directly impact a large part of the Oklahoma City metro area at rush hour, and posed a significant threat to the area. The first tornado in this area occurred in Canadian County.||During the next several hours, tornadoes were clustered around the metro area, and at times there were multiple significant damaging tornadoes occurring simultaneously. Several of the tornadoes had long tracks. Damage from the tornadoes was substantial, with numerous structures, vehicles, trees and power poles/lines significantly damaged or destroyed. One of the more intense tornadoes moved across Lake Thunderbird east of Norman destroying numerous boats.||More storms developed across southwest and south central Oklahoma, and also quickly became tornadic. ||By 9 pm, 35 tornadoes had been reported. While the loss of three lives was tragic, the casualties could have been much higher given the storm's fast motions, their intensity, the time of day and the areas impacted. ||While exact monetary damage figures were not available, it is estimated that losses were in excess of $595 million. At least 450 sustained injuries, most of them minor. Unfortunately three people lost their lives. ||Note: The large number of injuries and tornadoes made it difficult to associate injuries with specific tornadoes. Injury numbers were included when we had confidence in the numbers. ||Note: The complex nature of storm evolutions and interactions made the job of classifying tornadoes difficult. This represents our best scientific assessment based on ground and aerial surveys, data from multiple radars, photographic and video evidence and anecdotal information.

Kingfisher County portion of Tornado #H1. This tornado moved into Kingfisher County from Canadian County and moved northeast damaging outbuildings, trees and power lines across the southeastern portion of Kingfisher County. The tornado moved into Logan County just southeast of Cashion.

Logan County portion of tornado #H1. The tornado moved into Logan County from Kingfisher County just southeast of Cashion. The tornado moved northeast another half of a mile damaging tree limbs and an antenna.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:25 UTC and running to 01:17 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:25 UTC01:17 UTCTornado WatchOUN
20:41 UTC20:57 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
21:16 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN

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 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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.

Norman, OK (KOUN), 12:00Z

9.8 hours before the tornado, 64 km from the path. May 10, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2010-05-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 53 joules per kilogram, CIN -331, lifted condensation level 442 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2010-05-10The 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 640 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
53 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-331 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
442 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
640 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
652 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
5.3
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 00:00Z

2.2 hours after it, 64 km from the path. May 11, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2010-05-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1789 joules per kilogram, CIN -99, lifted condensation level 1693 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2010-05-11The 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 269 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 76 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
1789 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-99 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2741 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1693 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
76 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
269 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
259 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
6.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Oklahoma City/Wiley (PWA), 23 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:53 UTC8367170° 23 kt341001.7
20:53 UTC8568170° 29 kt391000.3
21:40 UTC82.466.2170° 28 kt37998VCTS
21:53 UTC7969170° 23 kt41998.6-TSRA
22:16 UTC78.868190° 26 kt37999-TSRA
22:30 UTC7766.2190° 20 kt30998.3TS
22:49 UTC80.669.8190° 10 kt998.3
22:53 UTC8070210° 10 kt998.3
22:58 UTC82.469.8200° 12 kt998.6

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

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:46 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
21:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 E CashionLogan, OK3 HAM ANTENNAS BLOWN DOWN...NUMEROUS SHEDS DAMAGED. SIDING FROM A HOUSE WAS DAMAGED.
21:50 UTCTORNADO4 Sw YukonCanadian, OKVIA KOTV...AND NUMEROUS SPOTTER REPORTS.
22:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 N NormanCleveland, OKBRADFORD PEAR TREE SHEARED OFF AT THE BOTTOM. FENCE BLOWN ACROSS ROAD. SOME SHINGLES OFF HOUSES. POWER POLES DOWN TOO.
22:15 UTCHAIL 3.75Del CityOklahoma, OK3.5 TO 4 INCH DIAMETER HAIL. DELAYED REPORT.
22:16 UTCHAIL 2.75MooreCleveland, OK
22:18 UTCTORNADO2 Sw MooreCleveland, OKTORNADO ORIGINALLY REPORTED BY MULTIPLE SOURCES NEAR 164TH AND JUST EAST OF WESTERN AVE IN MOORE. NUMEROUS TORNADO REPORTS TO THE EAST NORTHEAST THROUGH MOORE CITY LIMITS.
22:20 UTCTSTM WND GST 632 Nw NormanCleveland, OK
22:23 UTCHAIL 2.134 W MooreCleveland, OK
22:25 UTCHAIL 41 Ene MooreCleveland, OKINITIAL OBSERVER REPORTED THAT THE HAIL WAS ACTUALLY LARGER BEFORE IT WAS LATER PHOTOGRAPHED AT AROUND 4 INCHES IN DIAMETER.
22:25 UTCTORNADO3 Ese MooreCleveland, OKPOWER LINES DOWN AND REPORTS OF ROOFS BLOWN OFF HOUSES SE 149TH BETWEEN SUNNYLANE AND SOONER RD.
22:30 UTCHAIL 1.753 S ChoctawOklahoma, OK
22:30 UTCHAIL 2.751 Se MooreCleveland, OKALSO TREE DAMAGE REPORTED IN THE AREA.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 10, 2010

70 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 101:27 PM CDTEF1Wichita, KS0.925$5,000
May 101:31 PM CDTEF0Wichita, KS1.325
May 101:50 PM CDTEF0Logan, KS1.625
May 102:00 PM CDTEF0Scott, KS0.125
May 102:18 PM CDTEF0Logan, KS2.225
May 102:22 PM CDTEF0Logan, KS1.325
May 103:08 PM CDTEF0Ness, KS0.325
May 103:33 PM CDTEF0Grant, OK0.520
May 103:38 PM CDTEF3Grant, OK to KS40.71,5002$125,000
May 103:39 PM CDTEF0Grant, OK0.330
May 104:03 PM CDTEF0Grant, OK0.330
May 104:12 PM CDTEF0Kingman, KS2.7125
May 104:15 PM CDTEF1Grant, OK5.0500
May 104:17 PM CDTEF1Kay, OK6.7400
May 104:21 PM CDTEF0Kay, OK0.850
May 104:34 PM CDTEF2Kingman, KS3.1700$125,000
May 104:44 PM CDTEF1Kingman, KS1.8300
May 104:46 PM CDTEF0Canadian, OK0.230
May 104:46 PM CDTEF0Canadian, OK4.040
May 104:49 PM CDTEF1Cowley, KS1.4300$200,000
May 104:53 PM CDTEF0Noble, OK0.520
May 104:58 PM CDTEF1Sedgwick, KS5.1300$50,000
May 105:00 PM CDTEF1Noble, OK21.02,460$50,000
May 105:02 PM CDTEF1Noble, OK1.540
May 105:05 PM CDTEF1Jefferson, OK5.050
May 105:08 PM CDTEF1Cowley, KS0.7150$15,000
May 105:13 PM CDTEF0Oklahoma, OK0.220
May 105:20 PM CDTEF1Stephens, OK6.3700
May 105:20 PM CDTEF4Moore–Choctaw tornado, OK24.02,000249
May 105:22 PM CDTEF1Cleveland, OK3.8250
May 105:27 PM CDTEF1Cleveland, OK0.550
May 105:28 PM CDTEF0Elk, KS0.375
May 105:32 PM CDTEF4Norman–Lake Thunderbird tornado, OK22.3880132
May 105:33 PM CDTEF0Osage, OK0.175
May 105:34 PM CDTEF1Cleveland, OK5.5250
May 105:36 PM CDTEF1McClain, OK4.6880
May 105:37 PM CDTEF0McClain, OK0.8150
May 105:39 PM CDTEF2Cleveland, OK17.44403
May 105:41 PM CDTEF0Osage, OK1.050
May 105:44 PM CDTEF0Jefferson, OK1.530
May 105:45 PM CDTEF0Osage, OK1.075
May 105:48 PM CDTEF3Pottawatomie, OK6.58803
May 105:50 PM CDTEF0Stephens, OK2.050
May 105:56 PM CDTEF3Pottawatomie, OK37.22,20028$15,000
May 106:04 PM CDTEF2Carter, OK4.5400
May 106:22 PM CDTEF3Carter, OK4.9400
May 106:25 PM CDTEF0Carter, OK0.530
May 106:45 PM CDTEF1Okfuskee, OK14.01,000$40,000
May 106:52 PM CDTEF0Cleveland, OK2.080
May 106:54 PM CDTEF1Love, OK2.0200
May 107:03 PM CDTEF0Okmulgee, OK0.5100$1,000
May 107:04 PM CDTEF2Okmulgee, OK12.01,250$150,000
May 107:08 PM CDTEF0Marshall, OK0.740
May 107:15 PM CDTEF0Marshall, OK0.640
May 107:16 PM CDTEF2McIntosh, OK1.8300$40,000
May 107:17 PM CDTEF1Okfuskee, OK15.5650$40,000
May 107:23 PM CDTEF2McIntosh, OK13.0800$125,000
May 107:25 PM CDTEF0McIntosh, OK0.4100
May 107:28 PM CDTEF1McIntosh, OK2.6600$3,000
May 107:30 PM CDTEF1McIntosh, OK1.0300$2,000

All 71 of them

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.