Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2020
EF2 tornado, Madill, Oklahoma, April 22, 2020
This EF2 tornado ran 4.3 miles across Marshall County on April 22, 2020, touching down at 4:53 PM CDT and reaching 400 yards wide. It killed 2 people and injured 1, and did $500,000 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 mph
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 mphthis tornado
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
- EF2
- Date
- April 22, 2020
- Touchdown
- 4:53 PM CDT (21:53 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:05 PM CDT (22:05 UTC)
- On the ground
- 12 minutes
- Path length
- 4.3 miles (6.8 km)
- Path width
- 400 yards (366 m)
- Deaths
- 2
- Injuries
- 1
- Property damage
- $500,000
- County
- Marshall County
- Touchdown point
- 34.071, -96.813
- Lift-off point
- 34.070, -96.740
- Record number
- 2004221553-01
The damage survey
54 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 131 mph.
- And chimney damage. Via State 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
A dryline and upper level wave combined with strong shear to produce multiple tornadic supercells across southern Oklahoma on the 22nd.
Spotters and chasers observed a brief tornado southwest of Madill. This tornado produced no known damage and the location is estimated.
The Madill tornado initially developed near State Highway 99C and west of Breezy Hill Road. The tornado moved east-northeast along and just north of Highway 99C and then crossed US-377 and moved through the southern portion of the city of Madill. The tornado turned east-southeast and dissipated about 2 miles southeast of the center of Madill. EF2 damage was noted to houses and industrial buildings in the south part of Madill and to power poles along the path.||Heavy damage occurred at J and I Manufacturing just southwest of Madill and the Oklahoma Steel and Wire on the southeast side of Madill. One person was ejected from his car and killed near the intersection of Highway 377 and Highway 99C when his car was hit by the tornado. And a truck driver from Mississippi who was making a delivery at Oklahoma Steel and Wire was outside of his truck, struck by falling debris and killed at the plant. One person was airlifted to a hospital in Plano Texas in critical condition, and an unknown number of people suffered minor injuries that did not require transport.
The deaths
2 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.
| Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 46 | M | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
| 46 | M | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
29 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:24 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:34 UTC and running to 23:18 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06:48 UTC | 09:20 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | OUN |
| 07:34 UTC | 08:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 08:12 UTC | 08:41 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 13:53 UTC | 19:34 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | OUN |
| 15:02 UTC | 15:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 19:34 UTC | 23:18 UTC | Tornado Watch | OUN |
| 21:13 UTC | 22:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 21:24 UTC | 22:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | OUN |
| 21:58 UTC | 22:35 UTC | Tornado Warning | OUN |
| 22:05 UTC | 22:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 22:15 UTC | 22:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | OUN |
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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:37 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
9.9 hours before the tornado, 140 km from the path. April 22, 2020.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 20 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -449 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 99 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1138 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 65 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 375 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 455 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.1 K/km
Norman, OK (KOUN), 00:00Z
2.1 hours after it, 140 km from the path. April 23, 2020.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 18 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -176 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1076 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1051 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 16 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -148 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -24 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- -0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.3
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.1 K/km
The radar
The Norman radar (KTLX), 148 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:51 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:23 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Ne Springer | Carter, OK | |
| 21:24 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Ne Springer | Carter, OK | A LARGE TORNADO DEVELOPED NORTHEAST OF SPRINGER AND MOVED EAST-NORTHEAST, LIKELY MOVING INTO MURRAY COUNTY NEAR DOUGHERTY. THE TORNADO LASTED UNTIL APPROXIMATELY 437 PM. |
| 21:46 UTC | HAIL 0.5 | 7 Nnw Mill Creek | Johnston, OK | MPING. |
| 21:51 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Sw Madill | Marshall, OK | A BRIEF TORNADO DEVELOPED ABOUT 4 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MADILL. |
| 21:53 UTC | TORNADO | Madill | Marshall, OK | *** 1 FATAL *** A DAMAGING TORNADO MOVED THROUGH MADILL, DAMAGING NUMEROUS HOMES, BUSINESSES AND INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS. THE TORNADO CONTINUED TO APPROXIMATELY 505 PM DISSIPATING EAST OF TOWN. |
| 22:12 UTC | TORNADO | Little City | Marshall, OK | A TORNADO WAS REPORTED NEAR LITTLE CITY. |
| 22:15 UTC | HAIL 2.75 | Nida | Johnston, OK | BASEBALL SIZE HAIL IN NIDA, OK AT 77 AND 22. |
| 22:26 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Bromide | Johnston, OK | A TORNADO DEVELOPED SOUTH OF BROMIDE AND MOVED EAST PASSING NEAR OR NORTH OF WAPANUCKA. |
| 22:32 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Wnw Armstrong | Bryan, OK | A LARGE TORNADO DEVELOPED WEST-NORTHWEST OF ARMSTRONG AND MOVED EAST PASSING NORTH AND NORTHEAST OF ARMSTRONG TO AT LEAST 538 PM. HOMES WERE DAMAGED IN THE LAKE DURANT AREA AND NEAR ARMSTRONG. |
| 22:32 UTC | TORNADO | 7 Sw Lehigh | Atoka, OK | A TORNADO DEVELOPED NEAR THE ATOKA-COAL COUNTY LINE ABOUT 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LEHIGH AND MOVED EAST DISSIPATING APPROXIMATELY 559 PM SOUTH OR SOUTH-SOUTHWEST OF LEHIGH. |
| 22:53 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Se Caddo | Bryan, OK | A DAMAGING TORNADO WAS REPORTED SOUTHEAST OF CADDO. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2020 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 22, 2020
19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 22 | 4:17 PM CDT | EF1 | Garvin, OK | 2.2 | 600 | $200,000 | ||
| April 22 | 4:23 PM CDT | EF0 | Carter, OK | 0.1 | 20 | $2,000 | ||
| April 22 | 4:24 PM CDT | EF2 | Murray, OK | 4.7 | 600 | |||
| April 22 | 4:45 PM CDT | Unrated | Marshall, OK | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 5:10 PM CDT | EF0 | Marshall, OK | 1.4 | 50 | $20,000 | ||
| April 22 | 5:26 PM CDT | EF1 | Johnston, OK | 5.0 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| April 22 | 5:32 PM CDT | EF1 | Bryan, OK | 5.2 | 500 | $100,000 | ||
| April 22 | 5:35 PM CDT | EF3 | Onalaska tornado, TX | 28.5 | 1,100 | 3 | 33 | $5.0 million |
| April 22 | 5:52 PM CDT | EF1 | Bryan, OK | 1.2 | 30 | $20,000 | ||
| April 22 | 5:59 PM CDT | EF0 | Coal, OK | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| April 22 | 6:35 PM CDT | EF1 | Lamar, TX | 4.5 | 510 | $5,000 | ||
| April 22 | 6:51 PM CDT | EF2 | Lamar, TX | 10.4 | 810 | $75,000 | ||
| April 22 | 7:28 PM CDT | EF2 | Newton, TX to LA | 36.4 | 600 | $475,000 | ||
| April 22 | 9:09 PM CDT | EF2 | Rapides Parish, LA | 8.4 | 500 | $150,000 | ||
| April 22 | 9:26 PM CDT | EF2 | Rapides Parish, LA | 9.0 | 550 | 1 | $1.0 million | |
| April 22 | 9:27 PM CDT | EF1 | Rapides Parish, LA | 3.9 | 500 | $100,000 | ||
| April 22 | 9:42 PM CDT | EF1 | Rapides Parish, LA | 5.4 | 200 | $150,000 | ||
| April 22 | 10:06 PM CDT | EF1 | Avoyelles Parish, LA | 7.6 | 1,200 | $82,000 | ||
| April 22 | 10:17 PM CDT | EF1 | Concordia Parish, LA | 4.0 | 880 | $33,000 |
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.