EF0 tornado, Woodward to Mutual, Oklahoma, April 9, 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 9, 2012

Touchdown

5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)

Path length

0.2 miles (0.3 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Woodward County

Touchdown point

36.350, -99.364

Lift-off point

36.350, -99.364

Record number

1204091645-01

Supercell thunderstorms developed over northwest Oklahoma during the mid-afternoon hours and moved southeast through the evening hours. Hail up to softball-size was reported over many areas of Woodward county. In addition, several weak tornadoes occurred near and south of Woodward, OK. The tornadoes were brief in duration, although one did produce some damage east of Sharon, OK. The more extensive damage occurred with the very large hail that ravaged most of the city of Woodward. The hail shattered numerous automobile and building windows, some of which caused injuries. Two injuries occurred as hail busted through car windows. Another injury occurred to a girl that was closing her storm shelter. She broke her wrist after being struck by tennis ball-size hail. The Mesonet site located 2 miles south-southwest of Woodward recorded an interesting drop in pressure as the supercell tornado moved nearby. The storms moved southeast with large hail becoming primary threat as they moved over Clinton, OK. Other thunderstorms developed over the Texas panhandle and moved into far southwest Oklahoma and adjacent portions of western north Texas. These storms moved over mainly rural areas of Hardeman Foard counties, with large hail likely occurring and wind gusts over 60 mph.

A number of storm chasers reported a tornado approximately 3 miles south-southwest of Woodward. No known damage occurred and the location is estimated.

A tornado was observed by spotters and storm chasers south of Woodward. A camper was rolled over, trees were uprooted and light damage occurred to a building.

Emergency management and a storm chaser reported a multiple-vortex tornado between Woodward and Sharon. No known damage occurred and the location of this tornado is estimated.

A storm spotter reported a tornado just NE of Sharon. No damage is known to have occurred and the location is estimated.

Numerous sources reported a tornado that developed east-southeast of Sharon. A 20x40 foot metal shed was destroyed and a roof was partially detached from a home.

Emergency management and a storm chaser video showed a tornado about 1 miles southwest of Mutual. No damage was known to occur and the location is estimated.

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

20 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:25 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:28 UTC and running to 23:27 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:58 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.

West Woodward (WWR), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:46 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.

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

5 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.