Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2022

EF0 tornado, Wanette, Oklahoma, December 13, 2022

This EF0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Pottawatomie County on December 13, 2022, touching down at 5:46 AM CST and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 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
December 13, 2022
Touchdown
5:46 AM CST (11:46 UTC)
Lifted
5:47 AM CST (11:47 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.6 miles (1.0 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000
County
Pottawatomie County
Touchdown point
34.938, -97.116
Lift-off point
34.944, -97.110
Record number
2212130546-01

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 EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 112 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

Storms moved through Oklahoma late in the evening of December 12th and into the early morning hours of the 13th, producing isolated severe weather including a few tornadoes.

A trailer was damaged in far southern Pottawatomie County to the west-southwest of Wanette.

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

The warnings

8 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 11:38 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 12:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 11:35 UTC and running to 12:52 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
11:28 UTC12:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
11:35 UTC12:52 UTCTornado WatchOUN
11:38 UTC12:15 UTCTornado WarningOUN
11:43 UTC12:15 UTCTornado WarningOUN
12:08 UTC12:26 UTCTornado WarningOUN
13:14 UTC16:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryOUN

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:56 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), 00:00Z

11.8 hours before the tornado, 41 km from the path. December 13, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2022-12-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 4 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 422 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2022-12-13The 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 470 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 50 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
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
422 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
470 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
482 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 12:00Z

0.2 hours after it, 41 km from the path. December 13, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2022-12-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -22132, lifted condensation level 2263 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2022-12-13The 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 -184 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 68 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-22132 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2263 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
68 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-184 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-181 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:46 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
11:02 UTCFLOOD1 Ssw NormanCleveland, OKFLOODING AND A STRANDED VEHICLE ON THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA CAMPUS.
11:27 UTCTORNADOWayneMcclain, OKSIGNIFICANT HOUSE DAMAGE JUST NORTH OF WAYNE. TREE DAMAGE FROM WAYNE INTO SOUTHERN CLEVELAND COUNTY.
11:27 UTCTORNADOWayneMcclain, OKTREE DAMAGE REPORTED FROM TORNADO IN WAYNE.
11:30 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 S NormanCleveland, OKSTALLED CARS ON JENKINS STREET.
11:46 UTCTORNADO4 Ene RosedalePottawatomie, OKTREE AND TRAILER DAMAGE.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 13, 2022

30 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 1312:13 AM CSTUnratedBeckham, OK0.240
December 134:24 AM CSTEF1Stephens, OK0.350$3,000
December 134:51 AM CSTEF2Grady, OK0.650$75,000
December 135:27 AM CSTEF2McClain, OK4.9300$80,000
December 135:35 AM CSTEF2Eastland, TX11.1355
December 135:55 AM CSTEF1Garvin, OK4.2100$5,000
December 136:10 AM CSTEF0Parker, TX1.150
December 136:31 AM CSTEF1Palo Pinto, TX3.7230
December 136:59 AM CSTEF2Wise, TX9.73702
December 137:00 AM CSTEF0Parker, TX0.750
December 137:34 AM CSTEF1Erath, TX0.744
December 137:44 AM CSTEF0Cooke, TX0.4150$30,000
December 138:10 AM CSTEF0Tarrant, TX0.825$50,000
December 138:14 AM CSTEF1Tarrant, TX0.240$1,000
December 138:18 AM CSTEF0Tarrant, TX0.325$1,000
December 138:34 AM CSTEF1Tarrant, TX1.940
December 138:42 AM CSTEF1Tarrant, TX3.11505
December 138:49 AM CSTEF1Tarrant, TX0.8100
December 139:47 AM CSTEF2Collin, TX17.62252
December 1310:12 AM CSTEF1Hunt, TX6.650
December 1310:45 AM CSTEF2Lamar, TX10.2200
December 133:38 PM CSTEF2Panola, TX9.2460$85,000
December 134:36 PM CSTEF2Caddo Parish, LA3.570022$500,000
December 138:23 PM CSTEF3Union Parish, LA9.150014$1.2 million
December 1310:19 PM CSTEF1Franklin Parish, LA11.3300$270,000
December 1310:26 PM CSTEF1Rapides Parish, LA2.7100$40,000
December 1310:31 PM CSTEF1Rapides Parish, LA7.3150$75,000
December 1311:12 PM CSTEF2Sharkey, MS1.12503$1.0 million
December 1311:21 PM CSTEF2Issaquena, MS10.3400$410,000
December 1311:56 PM CSTEF1Humphreys, MS3.1200$100,000

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.