EF0 tornado, Cooperton, Oklahoma, April 13, 2012

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

April 13, 2012

Touchdown

7:52 PM CDT (00:52 UTC)

Lifted

8:12 PM CDT (01:12 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

6.0 miles (9.7 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Kiowa County

Touchdown point

34.903, -98.772

Lift-off point

34.977, -98.739

Record number

1204131852-01

A severe weather event began during the early afternoon hours of Friday, April 13, 2012, and lasted through the early morning hours of Saturday, April 14, 2012. Around a dozen tornadoes, as well as large hail, and strong wind gusts were produced by the numerous thunderstorms that occurred during this event. Much of the severe weather occurred in parts of southwestern and central Oklahoma. However, thunderstorms did develop in other portions of Oklahoma as well during the event.||A moist airmass had been in place over much of the region for several days prior to April 13th, and several rounds of showers and thunderstorms had occurred during this period. On Friday, April 13th, a dryline and weak frontal boundary moved into the area extending from near southwestern and west central Oklahoma then northeast into north central Oklahoma by the early afternoon hours. The first storms developed in parts of southwestern Oklahoma and west Texas. However, it was several hours before the first tornado occurred. In fact, the potential for tornadoes increased during the early evening hours of April 13th as the low level jet (strong winds just above the surface) became stronger.||The first tornadic activity of the day occurred in central Oklahoma as a tornado touched down just southwest of Norman at 3:59 pm CDT, and then moved east-northeast through the heart of that city shortly after 4:00 pm CDT. This tornado was eventually rated an EF-1 as it damaged many businesses and homes, and numerous trees and power lines were also downed. No fatalities were reported with this rush hour tornado, but 20 injuries were reported. The same parent supercell thunderstorm that produced the Norman tornado also spawned a brief, weak tornado in Pottawatomie County 6 miles northwest of Shawnee, OK.||Meanwhile, supercell thunderstorms continued to develop in southwestern Oklahoma. Nine tornadoes occurred in this area with 3, and possibly 4 tornadoes occurring at one time with a storm near Cooperton, OK in Kiowa County during the evening of April 13th. Two tornadoes were also reported near Blair, OK in Jackson County, and 3 tornadoes were observed near Carnegie, OK in Caddo County.|Large hail and strong wind gusts was also reported with these severe thunderstorms. The largest hail reported was 3 inches in diameter and fell in an area 12 miles south of Sayre, OK. Several wind gusts to 70 mph were also reported.||Approximately 12 tornadoes occurred during this severe weather event. Fortunately, no fatalities or major injuries were reported with these tornadoes.

An off-duty NWS employee observed this tornado just southeast of Cooperton for a couple of minutes but is not known to have produced any damage. The specific location is estimated.

This tornado occurred simultaneously to the end of another tornado south of Cooperton. This tornado produced no known damage and the location is estimated.

Just after the dissipation of two other tornadoes near Cooperton, storm chasers reported a third tornado developed about 2 miles southwest of Cooperton. This large tornado initially moved southeast before crossing state highway 54, then turned northeast. Some damage occurred to a roof and a silo.

A large tornado developed east-northeast of Cooperton and moved north-northeast. Despite the large width, no damage was reported with this tornado and the specific location is estimated.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:28 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:29 UTC and running to 01:37 UTC.

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:52 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.

Hobart Municipal (HBR), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:54 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 2012 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

13 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.