Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2019

EF0 tornado, Cottonwood, Oklahoma, May 18, 2019

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Coal County on May 18, 2019, touching down at 11:18 AM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 3, and did $25,000 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 18, 2019
Touchdown
11:18 AM CDT (16:18 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
3
Property damage
$25,000
County
Coal County
Touchdown point
34.647, -96.178
Lift-off point
34.647, -96.178
Record number
1905181018-01

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 74 mph.

  • Shipping containers overturned and light frame structures were damaged at a natural gas production facility that was under construction. Coordinates from county EM.

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

The beginning of a very active period, the 18th started with a complex of thunderstorms that grew upscale producing wind and tornadoes in the morning and then finished with isolated supercells producing large hail across northern Oklahoma.

A brief QLCS tornado caused damage at a natural gas production facility that was under construction about 8 miles north-northeast of Coalgate. Multiple large shipping containers were blown over and light frame structures were damaged. Flying debris damaged numerous vehicles and injured 3 people.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 14:12 UTC and running to 16:48 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
14:12 UTC16:48 UTCTornado WatchOUN
15:11 UTC16:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
15:50 UTC16:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
16:13 UTC16:45 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 12:57 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), 12:00Z

4.3 hours before the tornado, 128 km from the path. May 18, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2019-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2398 joules per kilogram, CIN -5, lifted condensation level 639 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 12:00Z on 2019-05-18The 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 236 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 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
2398 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3080 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
639 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
236 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
270 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.0
Supercell composite
11.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 00:00Z

7.7 hours after it, 128 km from the path. May 19, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2019-05-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 200 joules per kilogram, CIN -330, lifted condensation level 1107 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 2019-05-19The 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 92 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 77 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
200 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-330 J/kg
Surface CAPE
813 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1107 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
77 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 126 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:18 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
15:10 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Sw AdaPontotoc, OKTWO TREES REPORTED DOWN W OF LATTA. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
15:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGAdaPontotoc, OKTWO DOWNED POWER LINES AS WELL AS NUMEROUS TREE LIMBS. TIME ESTIMTED FROM RADAR.
16:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 W WapanuckaJohnston, OKPART OF ROOF FROM A HOUSE AWNING FLEW OFF AND LANDED ON A CAR. SOME MINOR TREE DAMAGE.
16:05 UTCTORNADOCalvinHughes, OKREPORT OF A TORNADO FROM MEDIA STORM TRACKERS. DAMAGE REPORTED BUT NO DETAILS. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
16:05 UTCTORNADOCalvinHughes, OKPOSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. MINOR ROOF DAMAGE AND TWO INCH TREE LIMBS DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
16:13 UTCTSTM WND GST 601 Sw LehighCoal, OKWINDS ESTIMATED 60 MPH 1 MILE SOUTHWEST OF LEHIGH. SOME DAMAGE TO TREES AND VEGETATION. NO STRUCTURAL DAMAGE AT THIS TIME.
16:13 UTCTORNADO8 Nne CoalgateCoal, OKPOSSIBLE TORNADO. DAMAGE AT A NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION FACILITY. SEVERAL MINOR INJURIES DUE TO FLYING DEBRIS. MULTIPLE VEHICLES WITH FLYING DEBRIS DAMAGE. MULTIPLE LARGE SHIPPING CONTAINERS BLOWN OVER AND TREE DAMAGE. LIGH
16:58 UTCTSTM WND DMGMcalesterPittsburg, OKLARGE TREE DOWNED ONTO HOME. SIGNIFICANT ROOF DAMAGE AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO SIDE OF HOME. SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT WITH PICTURE.
16:58 UTCTSTM WND DMGMcalesterPittsburg, OKNUMEROUS WINDOWS BLOWN OUT OF BUSINESSES AND HOMES. ROOFS OFF SEVERAL OTHER BUILDINGS. LARGE TREES DOWN.

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 May 18, 2019

24 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 182:05 AM CDTEF2Schleicher, TX2.12501$500,000
May 184:57 AM CDTEF2Tom Green, TX17.61,7602$7.5 million
May 185:43 AM CDTEF2Taylor, TX5.0388$10 million
May 185:56 AM CDTEF1Taylor, TX8.7550$750,000
May 186:52 AM CDTEF3Runnels, TX18.01,760$6.0 million
May 187:37 AM CDTEF2Comanche, OK0.5601$150,000
May 187:52 AM CDTEF3Runnels, TX5.81,760
May 188:20 AM CDTEF3Coleman, TX7.8300
May 189:27 AM CDTEF0Payne, OK0.225$10,000
May 189:33 AM CDTEF0Payne, OK0.450$30,000
May 1810:42 AM CDTUnratedPalo Pinto, TX0.025
May 1811:03 AM CDTEF0Tulsa, OK3.7350$5,000
May 1811:34 AM CDTUnratedMcCulloch, TX0.150
May 1811:58 AM CDTEF1Rogers, OK10.1400$40,000
May 1812:32 PM CDTEF0Mayes, OK2.1100$3,000
May 181:13 PM CDTEF1Haskell, OK1.2100
May 181:55 PM CDTEF1Sebastian, OK to AR5.3450$260,000
May 181:59 PM CDTEF1Sebastian, AR3.5600$150,000
May 182:01 PM CDTEF1Washington, AR1.0100$2,000
May 182:04 PM CDTEF1Sebastian, AR2.9400$50,000
May 182:10 PM CDTEF1Sebastian, AR7.31,000$25,000
May 182:25 PM CDTEF1Crawford, AR1.6300$20,000
May 185:45 PM CDTEF1Smith, TX0.7200$30,000
May 185:55 PM CDTEF0Prairie, AR0.350

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.