Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2019
EF0 tornado, Langley to Langley Arpt, Oklahoma, May 18, 2019
From Langley to Langley Arpt, this EF0 tornado ran 2.1 miles across Mayes County on May 18, 2019, touching down at 12:32 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $3,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- 12:32 PM CDT (17:32 UTC)
- Lifted
- 12:35 PM CDT (17:35 UTC)
- On the ground
- 3 minutes
- Path length
- 2.1 miles (3.4 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $3,000
- County
- Mayes County
- Touchdown point
- 36.470, -95.086
- Lift-off point
- 36.495, -95.061
- Record number
- 1905181132-01
The damage survey
2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.
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 squall line moved through eastern Oklahoma during the morning hours of May 18th. Very strong low level wind shear and moderately strong instability ahead of the squall line resulted in the development of several tornadoes, as well as damaging wind and large hail up to quarter size, as the line of thunderstorms moved across the area.
This tornado snapped large tree limbs and blew down a few power poles. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 75 to 80 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
34 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:58 UTC, 34 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:45 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 14:10 UTC and running to 19:17 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14:10 UTC | 19:17 UTC | Tornado Watch | TSA |
| 16:43 UTC | 17:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | TSA |
| 16:46 UTC | 17:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA |
| 16:58 UTC | 17:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | TSA |
| 17:30 UTC | 18:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA |
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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:26 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.
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
5.5 hours before the tornado, 123 km from the path. May 18, 2019.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 717 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -216 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 19 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 969 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 345 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 385 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.3 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z
6.5 hours after it, 123 km from the path. May 19, 2019.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -69641 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1550 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 271 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 280 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.7 K/km
The radar
The Tulsa radar (KINX), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:35 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 E Kansas | Delaware, OK | MULTIPLE TREES DOWN. |
| 16:59 UTC | TORNADO | 6 W Pryor | Mayes, OK | A TORNADO DAMAGED HOMES...SNAPPED TREES AND POWER POLES...AND DAMAGED OUTBUILDINGS. |
| 17:06 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Nnw Pryor | Mayes, OK | MAYES COUNTY REPORTING POWER LINES DOWN AT OR NEAR INTERSECTION OF COUNTY ROADS N430 AND W440. |
| 17:06 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Nw Pryor | Mayes, OK | GRDA POLICE REPORTING POWER LINES AND TREES DOWN NORTHWEST OF PRYOR, VICNINITY OF 450E ROAD AND 428 RD, AND 428 RD AND 440 RD. |
| 17:21 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 S Inola | Rogers, OK | TREE DOWNED AND BLOCKING ROADWAY AT 4210 ROAD AND HALF A MILE NORTH OF 640 ROAD. |
| 17:54 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Nnw Langley | Mayes, OK | GRDA POLICE REPORT POWER LINES DOWN VICINITY OF HIGHWAYS 82 AND 28 NEAR LANGLEY. |
| 17:54 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 W Langley | Mayes, OK | STORM CHASER REPORTS TREES DOWNED ON POWER LINES WEST OF LANGLEY. MUCH OF TOWN WITHOUT POWER. |
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.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18 | 2:05 AM CDT | EF2 | Schleicher, TX | 2.1 | 250 | 1 | $500,000 | |
| May 18 | 4:57 AM CDT | EF2 | Tom Green, TX | 17.6 | 1,760 | 2 | $7.5 million | |
| May 18 | 5:43 AM CDT | EF2 | Taylor, TX | 5.0 | 388 | $10 million | ||
| May 18 | 5:56 AM CDT | EF1 | Taylor, TX | 8.7 | 550 | $750,000 | ||
| May 18 | 6:52 AM CDT | EF3 | Runnels, TX | 18.0 | 1,760 | $6.0 million | ||
| May 18 | 7:37 AM CDT | EF2 | Comanche, OK | 0.5 | 60 | 1 | $150,000 | |
| May 18 | 7:52 AM CDT | EF3 | Runnels, TX | 5.8 | 1,760 | |||
| May 18 | 8:20 AM CDT | EF3 | Coleman, TX | 7.8 | 300 | |||
| May 18 | 9:27 AM CDT | EF0 | Payne, OK | 0.2 | 25 | $10,000 | ||
| May 18 | 9:33 AM CDT | EF0 | Payne, OK | 0.4 | 50 | $30,000 | ||
| May 18 | 10:42 AM CDT | Unrated | Palo Pinto, TX | 0.0 | 25 | |||
| May 18 | 11:03 AM CDT | EF0 | Tulsa, OK | 3.7 | 350 | $5,000 | ||
| May 18 | 11:18 AM CDT | EF0 | Coal, OK | 0.5 | 50 | 3 | $25,000 | |
| May 18 | 11:34 AM CDT | Unrated | McCulloch, TX | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 18 | 11:58 AM CDT | EF1 | Rogers, OK | 10.1 | 400 | $40,000 | ||
| May 18 | 1:13 PM CDT | EF1 | Haskell, OK | 1.2 | 100 | |||
| May 18 | 1:55 PM CDT | EF1 | Sebastian, OK to AR | 5.3 | 450 | $260,000 | ||
| May 18 | 1:59 PM CDT | EF1 | Sebastian, AR | 3.5 | 600 | $150,000 | ||
| May 18 | 2:01 PM CDT | EF1 | Washington, AR | 1.0 | 100 | $2,000 | ||
| May 18 | 2:04 PM CDT | EF1 | Sebastian, AR | 2.9 | 400 | $50,000 | ||
| May 18 | 2:10 PM CDT | EF1 | Sebastian, AR | 7.3 | 1,000 | $25,000 | ||
| May 18 | 2:25 PM CDT | EF1 | Crawford, AR | 1.6 | 300 | $20,000 | ||
| May 18 | 5:45 PM CDT | EF1 | Smith, TX | 0.7 | 200 | $30,000 | ||
| May 18 | 5:55 PM CDT | EF0 | Prairie, AR | 0.3 | 50 |
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.