EF1 tornado, Spavinaw to Topsy, Oklahoma, May 29, 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 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 29, 2015

Touchdown

2:27 PM CDT (19:27 UTC)

Lifted

2:47 PM CDT (19:47 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

9.5 miles (15.3 km)

Path width

1,500 yards (1372 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$60,000

Counties

Mayes and Delaware counties

Touchdown point

36.370, -95.081

Lift-off point

36.448, -94.941

Record number

1505291327-01

52 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 107 mph.

• uprooted trees, power poles snapped

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

An upper level disturbance moved through the Southern Plains on the 29th. Thunderstorms developed over eastern Oklahoma during the late morning and afternoon hours as this system approached. Three tornadoes occurred as these storms moved through the region as well as locally heavy rainfall that resulted in flash flooding.

This is the first segment of a two segment tornado. The tornado developed on Spavinaw Hill southwest of Spavinaw. It moved east-northeast snapping or uprooting numerous trees and snapping power poles through town. Some homes in town received roof damage. The tornado snapped or uprooted numerous trees along Highway 20 northeast of Spavinaw and damaged the roofs of a couple homes. The tornado crossed into Delaware County just north of Highway 20. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 100 to 110 mph.

This is the second segment of a two segment tornado. The tornado crossed into Delaware County just north of Highway 20. Trees were snapped or uprooted and power poles were blown down as it moved east-northeast across the S 510 and S 520 Roads before dissipating. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 95 to 105 mph.

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

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 tornado watch, issued at 19:13 UTC and running to 21:36 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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:29 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), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:26 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 2015 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.