Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2014

EF0 tornado, Adair, Oklahoma, June 28, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 4.3 miles across Mayes County on June 28, 2014, touching down at 3:22 PM CDT and reaching 400 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 of property damage.

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
June 28, 2014
Touchdown
3:22 PM CDT (20:22 UTC)
Lifted
3:28 PM CDT (20:28 UTC)
On the ground
6 minutes
Path length
4.3 miles (6.9 km)
Path width
400 yards (366 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Mayes County
Touchdown point
36.432, -95.283
Lift-off point
36.459, -95.213
Record number
1406281422-01

The damage survey

21 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

  • Building overhang on south side blown away, with some debris going through the roof of the main building. Photo courtesy of Johnny Janzen, Mayes County EM.
  • Bay doors blown out. Photo courtesy of Johnny Janzen, Mayes County EM.
  • Tree split and fell onto post office, damaging the siding and roof.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

A line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved across northeastern Oklahoma during the afternoon hours of the 28th. One of the storms within the line produced a weak tornado in Mayes County. Other storms produced some wind damage.

A tornado damaged the fire department, homes, and businesses. It snapped large tree limbs and blew down power lines. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 70 to 80 mph.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:34 UTC and running to 22:06 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:34 UTC22:06 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchTSA
19:44 UTC20:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
19:51 UTC20:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
20:08 UTC21:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryTSA
20:32 UTC20:51 UTCTornado WarningTSA

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:03 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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

8.4 hours before the tornado, 139 km from the path. June 28, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2014-06-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1173 joules per kilogram, CIN -43, lifted condensation level 681 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2014-06-28The 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 96 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 5 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
1173 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-43 J/kg
Surface CAPE
935 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
681 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
67 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

3.6 hours after it, 139 km from the path. June 29, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2014-06-29Temperature 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 -47047, lifted condensation level 1364 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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2014-06-29The 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 -181 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-47047 J/kg
Surface CAPE
359 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1364 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-181 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-326 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:24 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
19:38 UTCTSTM WND DMGOwassoTulsa, OKDEBRIS BLOW 100 YARDS. FENCE BLOWN DOWN.
19:45 UTCTSTM WND GST 633 W VerdigrisRogers, OK
20:24 UTCTSTM WND DMGAdairMayes, OKEARLY REPORTS OF HOMES DAMAGED AND POWER LINES DOWN. ADDITIONAL DETAILS TO BE PROVIDED LATER.
20:24 UTCTORNADOAdairMayes, OKTHE TRACK AND INTENSITY OF THE TORNADO HAS YET TO BE DETERMINED. THIS INFORMATION WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ON MONDAY.
20:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGCleoraDelaware, OKLARGE TREE DOWN

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 June 28, 2014

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 282:25 PM CDTEF0Harris, TX0.710$45,000

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.