Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2019

EF0 tornado, Shattuck, Oklahoma, April 17, 2019

This EF0 tornado ran 1.3 miles across Ellis County on April 17, 2019, touching down at 4:49 PM CDT and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1,000 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
April 17, 2019
Touchdown
4:49 PM CDT (21:49 UTC)
Lifted
5:03 PM CDT (22:03 UTC)
On the ground
14 minutes
Path length
1.3 miles (2.1 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$1,000
County
Ellis County
Touchdown point
36.370, -99.900
Lift-off point
36.360, -99.880
Record number
1904171549-01

The damage survey

4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 88 mph.

  • from Logan FB Live stream. Also a horse trailer moved west.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

What the Weather Service recorded

A closed upper low, a cold front, and a dryline combined to produce numerous thunderstorms with severe weather on the 17th.

This tornado was observed by many spotters and chasers, and was one of two tornadoes observed north and northwest of Shattuck. This tornado touched down about 4.5 miles northwest of Shattuck and moved northwest. Two mobile homes were damaged, including one that suffered significant loss of roof. This tornado also damaged trees and an outbuilding.

A second tornado touched down north of Shattuck and was one of two simultaneous tornadoes observed for a time. The tornado produced only some minor tree damage near US-283 and E45 Road.

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

The warnings

0 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:49 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:33 UTC and running to 01:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:33 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchOUN
21:43 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
21:49 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningOUN
22:05 UTC01:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryOUN
22:24 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningOUN
22:49 UTC23:30 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:31 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.

Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z

9.8 hours before the tornado, 156 km from the path. April 17, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2019-04-17Temperature 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 -75820, lifted condensation level 2546 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2019-04-17The 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 -84 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-75820 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2546 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
5 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

2.2 hours after it, 156 km from the path. April 18, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2019-04-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 265 joules per kilogram, CIN -76, lifted condensation level 1829 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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2019-04-18The 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 -27 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 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
265 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-76 J/kg
Surface CAPE
541 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1829 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-27 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
7.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 155 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:50 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
21:43 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Nw ShattuckEllis, OKREPORTS OF MULTIPLE HOUSES DAMAGED AT THE INTERSECTION OF N1710 AND E0480. ROOF REPORTED HALF REMOVED FOR ONE HOUSE. POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. TIME IS RADAR ESTIMATE.
21:47 UTCTORNADO4 Wnw ShattuckEllis, OKTWO TORNADOES OBSERVED ON THE GROUND BY BROADCAST MEDIA AND A CO-OP OBSERVER.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 17, 2019

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 173:39 PM CDTUnratedHemphill, TX2.430
April 173:54 PM CDTEF0Hemphill, TX4.340
April 174:29 PM CDTUnratedLipscomb, TX1.130
April 174:47 PM CDTEF1Ellis, OK1.650$20,000
April 175:05 PM CDTUnratedCarson, TX2.020
April 176:38 PM CDTUnratedSumner, KS1.130
April 177:50 PM CDTUnratedGreenwood, KS0.130
April 1712:50 AM CDTEF0Dade, MO2.050$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.