Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2017

EF0 tornado, Keyes to Boise City, Oklahoma, June 25, 2017

From Keyes to Boise City, this EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Cimarron County on June 25, 2017, touching down at 6:33 PM CDT and reaching 10 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
June 25, 2017
Touchdown
6:33 PM CDT (23:33 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Cimarron County
Touchdown point
36.760, -102.380
Lift-off point
36.760, -102.380
Record number
1706251733-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Decent chance for storms to develop and move across the majority of the area overnight. Due to the increased instability and better shear today, stronger storms expected. Severe storms with large hail and damaging winds being the primary threats. One storm became a flash flooding issue for typical poor drainage along I-40 in Amarillo.

Late report of a weak and brief tornado observed. Picture received from storm chasers that followed storm.

Sheriff���s Office reported tornado on the ground at intersection of HWY 64 and HWY 56 from a law enforcement officer in the field.

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

The warnings

21 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:12 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:47 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:01 UTC and running to 03:39 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:01 UTC03:39 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchAMA
22:24 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
23:12 UTC23:47 UTCTornado WarningAMA
23:27 UTC00:33 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
23:30 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningAMA
23:38 UTC00:17 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
00:04 UTC00:28 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:47 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.

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 12:00Z

11.6 hours before the tornado, 181 km from the path. June 25, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2017-06-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 475 joules per kilogram, CIN -31, lifted condensation level 652 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2017-06-25The 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 40 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 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
475 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-31 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1170 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
652 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
129 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.1
Supercell composite
-0.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 00:00Z

0.4 hours after it, 181 km from the path. June 26, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2017-06-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 421 joules per kilogram, CIN -91, lifted condensation level 1347 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2017-06-26The 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 65 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 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
421 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-91 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1273 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1347 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
65 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
182 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
3.9
0-3 km lapse rate
7.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 180 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:33 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
23:08 UTCTORNADO6 N KeyesCimarron, OKLATE REPORT...WEAK AND BRIEF TORNADO OBSERVED. PICTURE RECEIVED FROM STORM CHASERS THAT FOLLOWED STORM.
23:12 UTCTORNADO6 N KeyesCimarron, OKLATE REPORT...WEAK AND BRIEF TORNADO OBSERVED. PICTURE RECEIVED FROM STORM CHASERS THAT FOLLOWED STORM.
23:15 UTCTSTM WND DMGKeyesCimarron, OKLATE REPORT FROM CIMMARON CTY EM...BASEBALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED. STRUCTURAL AND TREE DAMAGE SUSTAINED THROUGHOUT KEYES DUE TO WIND AND LARGE HAIL.
23:15 UTCHAIL 2.75KeyesCimarron, OKLATE REPORT FROM CIMMARON CTY EM...BASEBALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED. STRUCTURAL AND TREE DAMAGE SUSTAINED THROUGHOUT KEYES DUE TO WIND AND LARGE HAIL.
23:24 UTCHAIL 2.752 N KeyesCimarron, OKBASEBALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED ON NORTH ROAD 430 NORTH OF KEYES.
23:33 UTCTORNADO7 Ene Boise CityCimarron, OKSHERRIFFS OFFICE REPORTED TORNADO ON THE GROUND AT INTERSECTION HWY 64 AMD 56 FROM A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER IN THE FIELD.
23:44 UTCHAIL 2.757 Ssw KeyesCimarron, OKLATE REPORT...TENNIS BALL TO BASEBALL SIZED HAIL REPORTED THROUGHOUT FARM SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST OF KEYES. ALL CROPS ON FARM SUSTAINED HAIL DAMAGE RESULTING IN A TOTAL LOSS. LOCATION RELAYED BY CIMMARON CTY EM WITH TIME ESTI

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 25, 2017

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 253:25 PM MDTEF0Baca, CO4.4200$2,000
June 256:08 PM CDTEF0Cimarron, OK0.110

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.