Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2010

EF1 tornado, Colbert, Oklahoma, September 8, 2010

This EF1 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Bryan County on September 8, 2010, touching down at 2:05 PM CDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1.

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 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    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
EF1
Date
September 8, 2010
Touchdown
2:05 PM CDT (19:05 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
County
Bryan County
Touchdown point
33.860, -96.500
Lift-off point
33.860, -96.500
Record number
1009081305-01

What the Weather Service recorded

The remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine moved north into southern and central Oklahoma, bringing with it heavy rain and three tornadoes. The most significant impact with this storm came from three tornadoes. The most significant tornado occurred near Colbert in Bryan County. Two homes sustained moderate damage and two trucks were overturned. One of the drivers sustained minor injuries while in the truck.

A brief tornado damaged two homes and overturned two trucks on Highway 69. One of the drivers sustained minor injuries while in his truck. Fifteen steel transmission lines were also downed. At least 1000 people were without power due to the damage. Monetary damage estimates were not available.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:24 UTC20:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
22:39 UTC06:00 UTCTornado WatchOUN

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 16:21 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.

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

7.1 hours before the tornado, 136 km from the path. September 8, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-09-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 45 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 457 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-09-08The 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 281 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 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
45 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
142 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
457 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
281 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
315 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 00:00Z

4.9 hours after it, 136 km from the path. September 9, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-09-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2402 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 718 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-09-09The 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 151 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 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
2402 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3220 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
718 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
151 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
143 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.2
Supercell composite
7.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Durant (DUA), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
17:12 UTC75.273.4110° 15 kt201014.2-RA
17:32 UTC75.273.4110° 19 kt241013.9RA
17:52 UTC75.273.490° 18 kt221013.2RA
18:12 UTC75.273.4100° 13 kt161013.9RA
18:32 UTC75.273.4120° 14 kt261012.9+RA
18:52 UTC75.273.4110° 19 kt291012.2+RA
19:12 UTC75.273.490° 23 kt331011.5+RA
19:32 UTC75.273.4150° 15 kt251012.9+RA
19:52 UTC75.273.4150° 11 kt1012.2RA
20:12 UTC75.273.4170° 16 kt211012.2RA
20:32 UTC75.273.4130° 13 kt221011.9-RA
20:52 UTC75.273.4130° 14 kt1011.2-RA

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

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 161 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:04 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
19:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGColbertBryan, OKEMERGENCY MANAGER RELAYED A PUBLIC REPORT OF DAMAGE TO A HOME. SUBSEQUENTLY MEDIA REPORTED A SEMI TRUCK BLOWN OVER ON HIGHWAY 69 AND DAMAGE TO STEEL POWER TRANSMISSION LINES.
19:05 UTCTORNADOColbertBryan, OK*** 1 INJ *** UPDATE FROM PREVIOUS T-STORM WIND DAMAGE ENTRY. A BRIEF TORNADO DAMAGED TO TWO HOMES AND OVERTURNED TWO TRUCKS. ONE OF THE TRUCK DRIVERS RECEIVED MINOR INJURIES. DAMAGE WAS ALSO REPORTED TO STEEL TRANSMISSI

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 September 8, 2010

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 84:18 AM CDTEF0Coryell, TX0.150
September 85:20 PM CDTEF0Lamar, TX1.9200$100,000
September 85:36 PM CDTEF1Ellis, TX9.9704$200,000
September 85:55 PM CDTEF0Falls, TX0.6115
September 86:10 PM CDTEF2Dallas, TX2.75161$750,000
September 86:20 PM CDTEF0Rockwall, TX0.7108$50,000
September 87:00 PM CDTEF0Carter, OK0.125$20,000
September 87:30 PM CDTEF0Cooke, TX0.050
September 88:15 PM CDTEF0Love, OK0.110

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.