Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2014

EF0 tornado, Lake Fuqua Dam, Oklahoma, April 13, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Stephens County on April 13, 2014, touching down at 6:05 PM CDT and reaching 40 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
April 13, 2014
Touchdown
6:05 PM CDT (23:05 UTC)
Path length
0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Stephens County
Touchdown point
34.580, -97.660
Lift-off point
34.580, -97.660
Record number
1404131705-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A slow moving cold front sparked scattered severe thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours. Abundant moisture and instability fueled the storms, giving way to several reports of large hail and damaging winds. Funnel clouds and two brief tornadoes were also observed.

Very brief tornado was reported by KWTV news. No damage was reported.

Storm chasers reported a brief tornado in northeast Stephens County. No damage was reported and the location is estimated.

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

The warnings

2 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:03 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:23 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:00 UTC and running to 00:26 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:46 UTC17:00 UTCWind AdvisoryOUN
18:42 UTC21:21 UTCRed Flag WarningOUN
19:00 UTC00:26 UTCTornado WatchOUN
22:34 UTC23:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
23:03 UTC23:23 UTCTornado WarningOUN
23:15 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN

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 19:59 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.

Norman, OK (KOUN), 12:00Z

11.1 hours before the tornado, 75 km from the path. April 13, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2014-04-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 275 joules per kilogram, CIN -227, lifted condensation level 1301 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, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2014-04-13The 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 456 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
275 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-227 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1021 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1301 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
456 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
480 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.6
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 00:00Z

0.9 hours after it, 75 km from the path. April 14, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2014-04-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -86194, lifted condensation level 1449 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2014-04-14The 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 -89 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-86194 J/kg
Surface CAPE
42 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1449 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-89 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
124 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:04 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
22:35 UTCHAIL 1.7515 Se Rush SpringsStephens, OK11 EAST OF HWY 81
22:58 UTCTORNADO8 Nne VelmaStephens, OKVERY BRIEF...REPORTED VIA KWTV
00:17 UTCHAIL 1.752 S WilsonCarter, OK
00:27 UTCHAIL 1WilsonCarter, OK

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 13, 2014

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 133:46 PM CDTEF0Camp, TX0.325$500,000
April 134:45 PM CDTEF1Houston, TX0.8201$120,000
April 135:56 PM CDTEF0Johnson, IA1.325
April 135:58 PM CDTEF0Stephens, OK0.450
April 138:45 PM CDTEF1Franklin, AR5.4450$200,000

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.