Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2023

EF0 tornado, Velma, Oklahoma, March 16, 2023

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Stephens County on March 16, 2023, touching down at 2:57 PM CDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
March 16, 2023
Touchdown
2:57 PM CDT (19:57 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Stephens County
Touchdown point
34.561, -97.670
Lift-off point
34.561, -97.670
Record number
2303161357-01

What the Weather Service recorded

As a cold front swept southeastward through the forecast area, scattered severe thunderstorms developed along and ahead of this feature through the afternoon across southern Oklahoma. A mixed storm mode of lines and embedded supercells produced instances of severe hail, including a few greater than 2-inches in diameter, along with a few reports of thunderstorm wind gusts/damage.

Spotters, a tribal police officer, and a fire fighter observed a brief tornado approximately 7 miles north of Velma. The specific location is estimated and no damage was observed or reported.

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

The warnings

13 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:44 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:10 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:34 UTC and running to 20:52 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:34 UTC20:52 UTCTornado WatchOUN
19:04 UTC19:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
19:23 UTC20:03 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
19:34 UTC20:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
19:44 UTC20:10 UTCTornado WarningOUN
20:00 UTC06:00 UTCWind 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:00 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

8.0 hours before the tornado, 77 km from the path. March 16, 2023.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2023-03-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 5 joules per kilogram, CIN -388, lifted condensation level 635 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2023-03-16The 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 585 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-388 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
635 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
585 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
679 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 00:00Z

4.0 hours after it, 77 km from the path. March 17, 2023.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2023-03-17Temperature 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 -94074, lifted condensation level 664 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2023-03-17The 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 -222 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 79 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
-94074 J/kg
Surface CAPE
14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
664 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
79 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-222 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-60 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:57 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
19:30 UTCHAIL 1.755 E HulenStephens, OK
19:34 UTCHAIL 1.75DuncanStephens, OK
20:05 UTCHAIL 12 W DuncanStephens, OK
20:11 UTCHAIL 12 W Elmore CityGarvin, OK
20:11 UTCHAIL 12 W Elmore CityGarvin, OK
20:15 UTCHAIL 13 N PoolevilleCarter, OK
20:20 UTCHAIL 1.75HennepinGarvin, OK
20:30 UTCHAIL 23 W DavisMurray, OKCORRECTION FOR HAIL SIZE. HAIL SIZE IS 2.0 NOT 2.4 INCHES.
20:30 UTCHAIL 2.43 W DavisGarvin, OKCORRECTION FOR LOCATION, REPORT WAS NOT FROM NEAR FITTSTOWN.
20:32 UTCHAIL 1.753 W DavisMurray, OK
20:43 UTCHAIL 1.754 Nw SulphurMurray, OK
20:46 UTCHAIL 1HennepinGarvin, OK

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 16, 2023

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 162:10 PM CDTEF0, PR0.37$40,000
March 164:47 PM CDTEF1Dallas, TX6.4100
March 164:52 PM CDTEF1Dallas, TX0.7100
March 167:58 PM CDTEF1Navarro, TX2.8502

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.