Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2017

EF0 tornado, Frederick Arpt to Grandfield, Oklahoma, May 10, 2017

From Frederick Arpt to Grandfield, this EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Tillman County on May 10, 2017, touching down at 8:05 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 10, 2017
Touchdown
8:05 PM CDT (01:05 UTC)
Path length
0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Tillman County
Touchdown point
34.270, -98.940
Lift-off point
34.270, -98.940
Record number
1705101905-01

What the Weather Service recorded

With outflow boundaries floating around the state and a large upper low moving into the region, scattered storms formed across Oklahoma and western north Texas on the evening of the 10th.

Storm chasers observed a brief tornado about 7 miles east-northeast of Davidson. No damage was reported and the location was estimated.

A tornado was observed by numerous storm chasers crossing State Highway 36 east of Loveland and north of Grandfield. No damage was reported.

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

The warnings

10 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:55 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:43 UTC and running to 03:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:43 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WatchOUN
22:14 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
23:54 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
00:20 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
00:36 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
00:45 UTC01:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryOUN
00:55 UTC01:30 UTCTornado WarningOUN
01:28 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
01:31 UTC01:46 UTCTornado 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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

1.1 hours before the tornado, 176 km from the path. May 11, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2017-05-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1639 joules per kilogram, CIN -10, lifted condensation level 514 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, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2017-05-11The 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 175 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 61 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
1639 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1961 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
514 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
61 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
175 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
136 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.5
Supercell composite
5.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 12:00Z

10.9 hours after it, 176 km from the path. May 11, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2017-05-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 592 joules per kilogram, CIN -121, lifted condensation level 1262 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, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2017-05-11The 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 106 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
592 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-121 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1785 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1262 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
106 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
91 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 11 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:03 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
22:12 UTCHAIL 22 N OlusteeJackson, OK
22:14 UTCHAIL 1.75OlusteeJackson, OK
22:20 UTCTSTM WND GST 699 S AltusJackson, OK
22:22 UTCHAIL 1.752 S AltusJackson, OK
22:28 UTCHAIL 1.75AltusJackson, OK
22:33 UTCHAIL 11 N AltusJackson, OK
22:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 763 E AltusJackson, OK
22:35 UTCHAIL 1.25Altus Air Force BaseJackson, OK
00:20 UTCHAIL 1HeadrickJackson, OK
00:58 UTCHAIL 1FrederickTillman, OK
00:59 UTCTSTM WND GST 723 Se FrederickTillman, OK
01:04 UTCTSTM WND GST 723 Se FrederickTillman, OK
01:05 UTCTORNADO6 E DavidsonTillman, OK
01:29 UTCTORNADO6 E LovelandTillman, OKMEDIA CHASERS AND SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO THAT CROSSED HIGHWAY 36.
01:41 UTCTORNADO7 Sse ChattanoogaCotton, OKFROM PENN STATE STORM CHASE TEAM. RADAR INDICATED THE TORNADO LIKELY MOVED NEAR THE TILLMAN-COTTON COUNTY LINE.

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 May 10, 2017

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 103:27 AM CDTEF1Armstrong, TX2.8180
May 104:01 AM CDTEF1Gray, TX2.650
May 1012:37 PM MDTEF0Colfax, NM1.750
May 102:46 PM CDTEF0Van Buren, IA2.850
May 102:54 PM CDTUnratedMotley, TX0.010
May 103:37 PM CDTUnratedCottle, TX0.010
May 103:58 PM CDTUnratedCottle, TX1.125
May 104:44 PM CDTUnratedHall, TX0.450
May 107:49 PM CDTEF0Macon, IL0.120$8,000
May 108:31 PM CDTUnratedTillman, OK0.350
May 108:36 PM CDTUnratedCotton, OK2.0100
May 1010:58 PM CDTUnratedVal Verde, TX0.110
May 1012:34 AM CDTEF0Newton, MO1.0100$100,000

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.