EF3 tornado, Blue to Atoka, Oklahoma, May 25, 2015

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

May 25, 2015

Touchdown

2:42 PM CDT (19:42 UTC)

Lifted

3:20 PM CDT (20:20 UTC)

On the ground

38 minutes

Path length

18.8 miles (30.2 km)

Path width

700 yards (640 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

1

Counties

Bryan and Atoka counties

Touchdown point

33.983, -96.268

Lift-off point

34.231, -96.186

Record number

1505251342-01

As an upper level trough continued to move over the central plains, storms formed ahead of a cold front in west Texas. These storms formed a line as the moved eastward and developed northward into Oklahoma.

A strong tornado developed in Bryan County near the intersection of Old US Highway 70 and Pirtle Road, 2.5 miles west-southwest of Blue. The tornado moved northeast and destroyed a mobile home north of Blue where a 48-year old woman was killed. This was one of a few mobile homes that were destroyed as the tornado moved through Bryan County (DI 3, DOD 8-9). Other homes also suffered roof damage or other damage from falling trees. From north of Blue, the tornado turned to the north and moved into Atoka County.

The tornado moved into Atoka County from Bryan County and moved generally north dissipating east of Caney. Homes suffered significant damage in Atoka County (DI 2, up to DOD 8) and one injury was reported east of Caney.

After the Blue-Caney tornado dissipated, the storm produced another tornado that developed 3.5 north-northwest of Bentley and moved north just west of Harmony, then last observed about 3 miles east of Atoka. Widespread areas were observed along the path with uprooted trees, and a number of houses were damaged (DI 2, up to DOD 6).

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:31 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:00 UTC and running to 22:08 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:31 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.

Durant (DUA), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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 2015 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

32 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.