EF0 tornado, Balko to Elmwood, Oklahoma, December 12, 2022

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

December 12, 2022

Touchdown

9:38 PM CST (03:38 UTC)

Lifted

9:39 PM CST (03:39 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.1 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Beaver County

Touchdown point

36.684, -100.524

Lift-off point

36.688, -100.513

Record number

2212122138-01

A vigorous upper level storm system crossed the Plains and combined with very strong wind shear and modest instability to create an environment capable of supercells during the evening hours across the combined northeast Texas and eastern Oklahoma Panhandles. One supercell generated at least two brief tornadoes. These did not produce |damage, but were documented with video and photographs by storm chasers and a few local residents. Hail between 1.5 and 2.5 fell across Beaver County as well.

This tornado track was estimated based on photos and eyewitness accounts. The tornado was moved northeast and was on the ground for just under 2 minutes. No damage was found, however the tornado didn't encounter any damage indicators along the path as|it remained in open grasslands. Given the lack of damage indicators, an unknown rating has been assigned.

This tornado was documented by multiple storm chasers with photos and video as it crossed US Highway 270 south of Beaver, Oklahoma. The tornado was on the ground for approximately one minute. With no damage reported to the power lines that the tornado crossed along the highway and no other damage indicators along the path which remained in open grassland areas, the tornado was rated an EF0.|The track and width were estimated based on eye witness reports, radar signatures and photographs. The maximum estimated wind speeds were 80 mph.

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

37 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:01 UTC, 37 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:25 UTC and running to 06:40 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:37 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 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.

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 129 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:37 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 2022 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.