Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2015

EF0 tornado, Waurika, Oklahoma, May 8, 2015

This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Jefferson County on May 8, 2015, touching down at 7:08 PM CDT and reaching 50 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
May 8, 2015
Touchdown
7:08 PM CDT (00:08 UTC)
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Jefferson County
Touchdown point
34.170, -97.983
Lift-off point
34.170, -97.983
Record number
1505081808-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Another round of storms developed across the Texas panhandle and developed into a line as it moved eastward across southern Oklahoma.

KSWO TV reported a tornado crossed highway 70 to the west of Waurika. No damage was reported and the location is estimated.

A video was taken of a brief tornado near Waurika. No damage was reported and the location of this tornado is estimated.

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

The warnings

12 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:56 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:31 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:51 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:51 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WatchOUN
22:37 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
23:14 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WarningOUN
23:45 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
23:53 UTC04:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningOUN
23:56 UTC00:31 UTCTornado WarningOUN
00:25 UTC04:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningOUN
00:49 UTC01:12 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
16:54 UTC18:21 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchOUN
17:20 UTC17:35 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:40 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), 00:00Z

0.1 hours before the tornado, 128 km from the path. May 9, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2015-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 20 joules per kilogram, CIN -110, lifted condensation level 577 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2015-05-09The 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 -54 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 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
20 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-110 J/kg
Surface CAPE
69 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
577 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
3 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-54 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
372 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 12:00Z

11.9 hours after it, 128 km from the path. May 9, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2015-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 320 joules per kilogram, CIN -247, lifted condensation level 540 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2015-05-09The 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 149 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 24 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
320 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-247 J/kg
Surface CAPE
214 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
540 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
149 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
208 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
3.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:08 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
23:04 UTCTORNADO2 W RandlettCotton, OKTORNADO REPORTED NEAR THE INTERSTATE 44 AND US-277 INTERCHANGE WEST OF RANDLETT. SIGNS WERE DAMAGED.
23:16 UTCTORNADO5 E RandlettCotton, OKA STORM CHASER REPORTED A BRIEF TORNADO.
00:05 UTCTSTM WND GST 59DuncanStephens, OK
00:08 UTCTORNADO1 E WaurikaJefferson, OKTIME AND LOCATION ESTIMATED.
00:08 UTCTORNADO1 E WaurikaJefferson, OK
00:35 UTCFLASH FLOODComancheStephens, OKSTREET FLOODING ON MAIN ROADS. GRAVEL ROADS IN RURAL AREAS WASHED OUT.
01:02 UTCFLOODWaurikaJefferson, OKSTREET FLOODING.
01:11 UTCFLOODVelmaStephens, OKFLOODING REPORTED ON 1ST STREET...MAIN STREET...SCHOOL RD...CHAPARRAL RD...HARGROVE RD...1 TO 2 FEET DEEP IN AREAS.
01:11 UTCFLOODWaurikaJefferson, OKMAIN AT US 70 UNDER SEVERAL FEET OF WATER. NOT AFFECTING STRUCTURES AT TIME OF REPORT.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2015 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 8, 2015

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 84:22 PM CDTEF0Wilbarger, TX0.330
May 84:28 PM CDTEF1Wilbarger, TX3.5100
May 85:21 PM CDTEF0Wichita, TX0.350
May 85:30 PM CDTEF0Haskell, TX0.235
May 86:04 PM CDTEF0Cotton, OK0.250
May 86:16 PM CDTEF0Cotton, OK0.250
May 86:22 PM CDTEF0Throckmorton, TX0.335
May 86:40 PM CDTEF0Jefferson, OK0.550
May 86:40 PM CDTEF0Throckmorton, TX0.225
May 86:12 PM MDTEF0Otero, CO0.850

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.