Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2018

EF0 tornado, Payne to Wayne, Oklahoma, May 19, 2018

From Payne to Wayne, this EF0 tornado ran 7.0 miles across McClain County on May 19, 2018, touching down at 12:17 AM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.

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 19, 2018
Touchdown
12:17 AM CDT (05:17 UTC)
Lifted
12:22 AM CDT (05:22 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
7.0 miles (11.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
McClain County
Touchdown point
34.885, -97.423
Lift-off point
34.942, -97.319
Record number
1805192317-01

What the Weather Service recorded

An area of storms formed across Oklahoma along and around a stationary front (several other lingering boundaries contributed as well) on the afternoon of the 19th. These storms moved southeast into the night with some training resulting in flooding.

A small, weak tornado developed within a quasi-linear convective system and moved northeast from west-southwest of Wayne to north of Wayne. The roof of one home was damaged along state highway 74, otherwise the damage was primarily to trees and a four outbuildings.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
04:58 UTC05:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
05:26 UTC06:15 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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:36 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

5.3 hours before the tornado, 34 km from the path. May 20, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2018-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1717 joules per kilogram, CIN -9, lifted condensation level 1316 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 00:00Z on 2018-05-20The 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 -14 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 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
1717 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1973 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1316 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
49 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-1.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 12:00Z

6.7 hours after it, 34 km from the path. May 20, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2018-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -78989, lifted condensation level 1050 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2018-05-20The 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 45 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-78989 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1050 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
291 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Pauls Valley Municipal Airport (PVJ), 26 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
03:35 UTC77.568.4130° 4 kt1013.2
03:55 UTC7868.2110° 6 kt1013.5
04:15 UTC77.468.5110° 4 kt1012.9
04:35 UTC7868120° 5 kt1013.2
04:55 UTC7867.6130° 8 kt1012.9-VCTSRA
05:15 UTC77.568130° 5 kt1013.5TS
05:35 UTC7867.5270° 9 kt211014.6TS
05:55 UTC66.264.8290° 12 kt241015.2-VCTSRA
06:15 UTC62.662.6330° 8 kt251014.6-TSRA
06:35 UTC64.464.4350° 6 kt1014.6
06:55 UTC64.264.220° 5 kt1014.2VCTS
07:15 UTC64.664.6360° 6 kt1014.6-VCTSRA

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

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:19 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
04:20 UTCTSTM WND DMGMarlowStephens, OKNUMEROUS TREES DAMAGED BY STRONG WINDS. TREE LIMBS UP TO 14 INCHES IN DIAMETER SNAPPED. ROOF DAMAGE TO SEVERAL HOMES AND STRUCTURES IN MARLOW. TIME ESTIMATED WITH RADAR.
05:19 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 N MaysvilleMcclain, OKROOF DAMAGE AND POWERLINES DOWN.
05:33 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 S PurcellMcclain, OKDAMAGE TO A LARGE SHED AND POWERLINES DOWN.
05:35 UTCTSTM WND DMGLexingtonCleveland, OKLARGE TREE (DIAMETER OVER 2') UPROOTED. LARGE BRANCH (~5 DIAMETER) DOWN ON PICKUP TRUCK. NUMEROUS LARGE BRANCHES DOWN ACROSS TOWN AND IN ROADS. STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO A BUILDING ABOUT 1/4 NORTH OF LEXINGTON ON THE WEST SID
05:39 UTCHAIL 13 W PurcellMcclain, OK

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2018 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 19, 2018

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 192:59 PM CDTEF0Osage, OK1.9100$2,000
May 193:04 PM CDTEF0Osage, OK0.9100$5,000
May 196:25 PM CDTEF1Polk, MO2.3100$20,000
May 196:28 PM CDTEF1Polk, MO2.0100$20,000
May 199:36 PM EDTEF1Bedford, VA1.0100$25,000

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.