Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2015

EF1 tornado, Silo to Durant Eaker Arpt, Oklahoma, May 9, 2015

From Silo to Durant Eaker Arpt, this EF1 tornado ran 5.3 miles across Bryan County on May 9, 2015, touching down at 7:25 PM CDT and reaching 200 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 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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
May 9, 2015
Touchdown
7:25 PM CDT (00:25 UTC)
Lifted
7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)
On the ground
10 minutes
Path length
5.3 miles (8.4 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Bryan County
Touchdown point
34.027, -96.487
Lift-off point
34.046, -96.400
Record number
1505091825-01

What the Weather Service recorded

As the upper low continued to slowly track east across the Great Plains, storms once again formed in north Texas and the Texas panhandle and made their way eastward across Oklahoma through the day and evening of the 9th.

A tornado developed about 1 miles south-southwest of Silo and moved east-northeast to at least 5 miles north-northwest of Durant. At least one home received roof damage and a mobile home was also damaged. Numerous trees were downed along the path and one truck suffered damage in the adjacent rear-flank downdraft region.

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

The warnings

26 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:59 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:21 UTC and running to 01:40 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
07:57 UTC13:33 UTCFlood WarningOUN
15:37 UTC19:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningOUN
16:32 UTC20:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningOUN
18:21 UTC01:40 UTCTornado WatchOUN
19:29 UTC19:43 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
23:10 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
23:25 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WarningOUN
23:59 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningOUN
00:11 UTC00:45 UTCTornado WarningOUN
00:33 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WarningOUN
00:44 UTC01:15 UTCTornado WarningOUN
00:59 UTC01:21 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
17:58 UTC01:36 UTCTornado WatchOUN

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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:04 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.

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 00:00Z

0.4 hours before the tornado, 155 km from the path. May 10, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2015-05-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2343 joules per kilogram, CIN -10, lifted condensation level 1015 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2015-05-10The 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 316 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 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
2343 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3471 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1015 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
316 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
396 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
5.1
Supercell composite
26.9
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

11.6 hours after it, 155 km from the path. May 10, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2015-05-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2108 joules per kilogram, CIN -13, lifted condensation level 628 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2015-05-10The 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 259 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 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
2108 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-13 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2730 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
628 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
259 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
279 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.8
Supercell composite
14.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Durant (DUA), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:35 UTC71.669.8140° 11 kt161008.8
22:55 UTC71.669.8120° 10 kt1008.8
23:15 UTC71.669.8110° 8 kt1009.1
23:35 UTC71.669.8120° 13 kt1009.1
23:55 UTC71.668100° 13 kt1008.8
00:15 UTC69.86890° 13 kt1009.5
00:35 UTC69.868150° 16 kt251008.5
00:55 UTC69.86850° 3 kt1010.5
01:15 UTC69.86880° 11 kt1009.8-RA
02:00 UTC6864.4110° 10 kt161010.2
02:15 UTC6864.4110° 9 kt1010.5

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

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 163 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:23 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
22:50 UTCTORNADO7 Se MariettaLove, OKSPOTTERS REPORTED A BRIEF TOUCHDOWN.
23:24 UTCTORNADO2 N WillisMarshall, OKUPDATED. THE TORNADO /OR PERHAPS A SERIES OF TWO TORNADOES/ MOVED FROM ABOUT 2 MILES NORTH OF WILLIS AT 624 PM TO ABOUT 5 MILES NORTH OF WILLIS AT ABOUT 630 PM. THE TORNADO WAS REPORTED TO BE MULTIPLE VORTEX.
23:24 UTCTORNADO2 N WillisMarshall, OK
23:40 UTCTORNADOKingstonMarshall, OKPUBLIC REPORTED TORNADO IN KINGSTON... PHOTO ON FACEBOOK... TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
00:25 UTCTORNADO1 Ssw SiloBryan, OKUPDATED. SPOTTERS AND CHASERS INDICATE THIS TORNADO DEVELOPED ABOUT 1 MILE SOUTH-SOUTHWEST OF SILO AROUND 725 PM AND MOVED AT LEAST TO 5 MILES NORTH-NORTHWEST OF DURANT AROUND 735 PM. DAMAGE REPORTED 5 MILES WEST-NORTHWE
00:35 UTCTORNADO5 Wnw DurantBryan, OKWALL DAMAGE TO MOBILE HOME... SEVERAL TREES DOWN... ONE UP ROOTED... ROOF DECKING REMOVED FROM HOUSE.
01:10 UTCHAIL 17 Sw LaneAtoka, OK

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 9, 2015

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 94:32 PM CDTEF3Eastland, TX3.81,40012$300,000
May 93:40 PM MDTEF0Lincoln, CO0.050
May 93:41 PM MDTEF0El Paso, CO3.3100
May 94:55 PM CDTEF0Cooke, TX0.740
May 95:15 PM CDTEF0Eastland, TX0.120$90,000
May 94:27 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO1.150
May 94:30 PM MDTEF0Elbert, CO0.150
May 95:30 PM CDTEF0Love, OK0.330
May 94:40 PM MDTEF0Elbert, CO0.150
May 95:50 PM CDTEF0Love, OK0.330
May 94:50 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO11.1150$3,000
May 95:57 PM CDTEF0Wichita, TX3.350
May 96:09 PM CDTEF0Cotton, OK1.0100
May 95:20 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne, CO2.110
May 96:24 PM CDTEF0Marshall, OK3.0200
May 95:35 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne, CO1.025
May 96:58 PM CDTEF0Erath, TX0.380
May 97:28 PM CDTEF0Trego, KS4.0100
May 97:55 PM CDTEF0Graham, KS2.850
May 98:00 PM CDTEF0Gove, KS5.7100
May 98:24 PM CDTEF0Roger Mills, OK2.0100
May 98:25 PM CDTEF0Harlan, NE0.315
May 98:36 PM CDTEF0Harlan, NE0.015
May 98:38 PM CDTEF1Gove, KS6.150$50,000
May 99:12 PM CDTEF0Sheridan, KS13.9150
May 99:50 PM CDTEF2Sheridan, KS18.8150$75,000
May 910:43 PM CDTEF1Decatur, KS11.750$6,000
May 911:20 PM CDTEF0Red Willow, NE4.225

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.