Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2015

EF0 tornado, Thackerville to Marietta, Oklahoma, May 9, 2015

From Thackerville to Marietta, this EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Love County on May 9, 2015, touching down at 5:30 PM CDT and reaching 30 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 9, 2015
Touchdown
5:30 PM CDT (22:30 UTC)
Path length
0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Love County
Touchdown point
33.790, -97.123
Lift-off point
33.790, -97.123
Record number
1505091630-02

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 produced some minor tree damage near Thackerville.

A tornado was reported to have touched down briefly near Loves Valley Road near Tucks Ferry. No damage was reported.

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

The warnings

2 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:28 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

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

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
14:32 UTC17:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryOUN
16:58 UTC06:58 UTCFlood WarningOUN
18:21 UTC01:40 UTCTornado WatchOUN
21:56 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
22:28 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningOUN
23:00 UTC12:00 UTCFlood 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. 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), 12:00Z

10.5 hours before the tornado, 108 km from the path. May 9, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX 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 1096 joules per kilogram, CIN -160, lifted condensation level 782 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 2015-05-09The 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 130 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 32 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
1096 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-160 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2066 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
782 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
130 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
168 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
4.1
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

1.5 hours after it, 108 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

The surface observations

Gainesville (GLE), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:53 UTC75.271.6130° 12 kt1009.1
21:13 UTC75.271.6130° 11 kt1008.5
21:33 UTC78.871.6130° 11 kt161008.1
21:53 UTC73.471.6100° 10 kt221007.5-RA
22:33 UTC7771.6150° 12 kt161007.8
22:53 UTC75.271.6140° 9 kt1008.1
23:13 UTC7771.6150° 14 kt181008.5
23:33 UTC7771.6150° 9 kt171008.5
23:53 UTC75.271.6150° 13 kt171008.5
00:13 UTC75.269.8140° 9 kt151008.5
00:33 UTC75.269.8140° 10 kt1008.5

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

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 136 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:29 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
22:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGThackervilleLove, OK2 LARGE TREES DOWN
22:30 UTCTORNADO1 E ThackervilleLove, OKMINOR TREE DAMAGE... A FEW TREES BLOWN DOWN...
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.

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 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 97:25 PM CDTEF1Bryan, OK5.3200
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.