Unrated tornado, Wann to Elliot, Oklahoma, January 30, 2021

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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. Unratedthis tornado

   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.

Rating

Unrated

Date

January 30, 2021

Touchdown

1:56 PM CST (19:56 UTC)

Lifted

2:00 PM CST (20:00 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Nowata County

Touchdown point

36.894, -95.693

Lift-off point

36.906, -95.659

Record number

2101301356-01

A narrow axis of moisture and instability developed over portions of eastern Oklahoma during the afternoon of the 30th, ahead of an approaching dry line. Wind fields and wind shear strengthened across the area during the afternoon, with the approach of a strong upper level disturbance. Thunderstorms developed along the dry line during the early afternoon, and moved east-northeast across northeastern Oklahoma. Weak instability and very strong low level wind shear combined to support the evolution of some of the thunderstorms into supercells. One such storm produced four tornadoes. Hail up to penny size was also reported.

Several storm chasers and storm spotters witnessed this initial tornado from the supercell, which developed and moved over open country. A survey team could find no damage as a result of this tornado, due to the fact that it occurred over open country where there were no damage indicators impacted.

Several storm chasers and storm spotters witnessed this second tornado from the supercell, which developed and moved over open country. A survey team could find no damage as a result of this tornado, due to the fact that it occurred over open country where there were no damage indicators impacted.

Several storm chasers and storm spotters witnessed this third tornado from the supercell, which developed and moved over open country. A survey team could find no damage as a result of this tornado, due to the fact that it occurred over open country where there were no damage indicators impacted.

Several storm chasers and storm spotters witnessed this fourth tornado from the supercell, which developed and moved over open country. A survey team could find no damage as a result of this tornado, due to the fact that it occurred mostly over open country where there were no damage indicators impacted. Much of the path was also inaccessible by road.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:45 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:30 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:22 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 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.

Coffeyville (CFV), 23 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:56 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.