Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2010

EF0 tornado, Eva, Oklahoma, May 31, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 1.7 miles across Texas County on May 31, 2010, touching down at 8:51 PM CDT and reaching 25 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 31, 2010
Touchdown
8:51 PM CDT (01:51 UTC)
Lifted
8:53 PM CDT (01:53 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.7 miles (2.7 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Texas County
Touchdown point
36.820, -101.970
Lift-off point
36.836, -101.947
Record number
1005311951-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms across the western and central Oklahoma Panhandle during the evening hours produced large hail and two tornadoes. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

The tornado touched down at 1951 CST and lifted at 1953 CST about four miles west northwest of Eva Oklahoma. The tornado became rain wrapped at 1951 CST. The tornado path length and path width were estimated. The tornado remained over open country and no damage or injuries were reported.

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

The warnings

28 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:23 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:28 UTC and running to 06:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:07 UTC23:28 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchAMA
23:28 UTC06:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchAMA
00:05 UTC00:38 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
01:08 UTC02:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
01:23 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WarningAMA
01:55 UTC02:30 UTCTornado WarningAMA
01:59 UTC03:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
03:22 UTC04:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:53 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.

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 00:00Z

1.9 hours before the tornado, 179 km from the path. June 1, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-06-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1279 joules per kilogram, CIN -32, lifted condensation level 2207 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-06-01The 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 78 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 24 knots.193958Sfc1 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
1279 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-32 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2327 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2207 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
78 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
239 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
5.1
0-3 km lapse rate
8.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 12:00Z

10.1 hours after it, 179 km from the path. June 1, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-06-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 727 joules per kilogram, CIN -380, lifted condensation level 1794 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-06-01The 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 81 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 19 knots.193958Sfc1 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
727 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-380 J/kg
Surface CAPE
66 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1794 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
216 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 179 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:49 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
00:58 UTCTORNADO11 Nw KeyesCimarron, OK
00:59 UTCTORNADO11 Nw KeyesCimarron, OK
01:51 UTCTORNADO4 Wnw EvaTexas, OKBECAME RAIN WRAPPED AT 851 PM
02:00 UTCHAIL 1.756 W EvaTexas, OK
02:03 UTCHAIL 1.752 S GuymonTexas, OKALONG HIGHWAY 136
02:08 UTCHAIL 0.751 S GuymonTexas, OK
02:12 UTCHAIL 1.754 Sw EvaTexas, OK3 SE DOOLIN
02:20 UTCHAIL 0.88GuymonTexas, OK
02:24 UTCHAIL 1GuymonTexas, OK

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 31, 2010

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 312:55 PM MDTEF2Baca, CO2.8400$20,000
May 313:07 PM MDTEF0Baca, CO0.375
May 316:09 PM MDTEF2Baca, CO9.2300$30,000
May 317:58 PM CDTEF0Cimarron, OK1.825

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.