EF1 tornado, Waynoka, Oklahoma, May 19, 2024

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

May 19, 2024

Touchdown

10:53 PM CDT (03:53 UTC)

Lifted

10:57 PM CDT (03:57 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

2.7 miles (4.3 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

County

Woods County

Touchdown point

36.646, -98.962

Lift-off point

36.668, -98.923

Record number

2405192153-01

18 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 108 mph.

• Large round hay bales blown around
• oil tank rolled/blown from this location; SH survey/drone
• several trees blown over/snapped; SH survey/drone
• ending location for oil tank; SH survey/drone

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Significant severe weather occurred across portions of western into central Oklahoma from the late afternoon of the 19th through early morning on the 20th. Aloft, a strong and compact upper wave moved across portions of Kansas during the afternoon. While most severe weather outcomes were expected further north of the WFO Norman area, a few supercell thunderstorms developed along a trailing dryline near the 100th meridian. This included a powerful supercell thunderstorm that moved from Hemphill County, Texas (WFO Amarillo, Texas) into portions of Roger Mills/Custer/Washita/Blaine/Canadian/Oklahoma counties during the afternoon into late evening hours. This thunderstorm was responsible for thirteen (13) tornadoes, including significant tornadoes west of Custer City and near Yukon, Oklahoma. Significant damaging wind gusts/damage and large to very large hail also occurred with this thunderstorm. Additional hail-producing supercells developed into portions of northwestern Oklahoma during the evening, with one becoming briefly tornadic during the late evening across Woods County, Oklahoma.

This was the first of two tornadoes that developed in western Woods County to the northwest of Waynoka. A number of trees were snapped along the path and damage to at least two oil field sites.

A second tornado developed in western Woods County to the northwest of Waynoka. A number of trees were snapped or uprooted, a oil tank was blown or rolled about 300 yards and a barn was damaged.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:48 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 02:49 UTC and running to 07:00 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:13 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 Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:52 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 2024 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

31 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.