EF1 tornado, Talala to Watova, Oklahoma, May 31, 2013

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

May 31, 2013

Touchdown

8:21 PM CDT (01:21 UTC)

Lifted

8:26 PM CDT (01:26 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

3.5 miles (5.6 km)

Path width

320 yards (293 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Nowata and Rogers counties

Touchdown point

36.589, -95.733

Lift-off point

36.605, -95.674

Record number

1305311921-01

15 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 109 mph.

• Apparent beginning point of EF-1 tornado
• Apparent ending point of EF-1 tornado
• Apparent beginning of EF-1 tornado
• Numerous trees snapped or uprooted in this area

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Severe thunderstorms developed over central Oklahoma and southern Kansas along a slow-moving cold front during the afternoon hours of the 31st. Very unstable air ahead of the cold front, combined with strong wind shear, resulted in storms quickly evolving into supercells. These storms produced several tornadoes, large hail to golfball size, and damaging wind across eastern Oklahoma during the evening hours of the 31st into the overnight hours of June 1st.

This is the first of two segments of this tornado. The tornado snapped a number of trees and uprooted many others in Rogers County. Based on this tree damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 100 to 110 mph. The tornado was photographed by several storm chasers. It continued into Nowata County, Oklahoma.

This is the final segment of a two segment tornado. In Nowata County, this tornado snapped or uprooted numerous trees. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment was 100 to 110 mph. Several storm chasers photographed this tornado. The tornado moved east-northeast, turning more northeasterly as it crossed the N 4110 Road.

This is the first of two segements of this tornado. In Rogers County, this tornado snapped or uprooted trees. Maximum estimated wind in the tornado based on this damage was 100 to 110 mph. Several storm chasers photographed this tornado. It continued into Nowata County, Oklahoma.

This is the final segment of this two segment tornado. In Nowata County, this tornado destroyed a mobile home, injuring two occupants. It also damaged other permanent homes, destroyed a barn, and snapped or uprooted numerous trees. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 100 to 110 mph. Several storm chasers photographed this tornado. This tornado moved east-northeast until it crossed E 28 Road then turned sharply to the north, paralleling the N 4150 Road until it dissipated.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:12 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:27 UTC and running to 05:00 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 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 00:43 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.

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:19 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 2013 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

35 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.