Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2024

Unrated tornado, Burneyville to Overbrook, Oklahoma, May 25, 2024

From Burneyville to Overbrook, this Unrated tornado ran 0.5 miles across Love County on May 25, 2024, touching down at 8:06 PM CDT and reaching 50 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 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.

The record

Rating
Unrated
Date
May 25, 2024
Touchdown
8:06 PM CDT (01:06 UTC)
Lifted
8:07 PM CDT (01:07 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Love County
Touchdown point
34.038, -97.209
Lift-off point
34.044, -97.206
Record number
2405251906-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A severe weather outbreak impacted portions of western Oklahoma and western-north Texas during the afternoon into evening of the 25th. At upper levels, a high-amplitude trough passed across the Plains during the day, with a focused jet ejection across portions of the Texas Panhandle/Oklahoma. The combination of strong dynamics/kinematics, locally extreme instability (objective analysis depiction >6000 J/kg CAPE) and unseasonably rich low-level moisture was sufficient for significant supercell thunderstorms. An initial round of supercells developed across portions of western-north Texas and eventually spread into portions of southwestern and southern Oklahoma through the evening. Additional supercells developed across northwestern Oklahoma, moving into northern Oklahoma by the late evening. All severe hazards, including multiple tornadoes, were observed with the most robust and longest-sustaining storms.

Storm chasers observed a tornado north-northeast of Burneyville. No damage was reported and the location is estimated.

Storm chasers observed a tornado to the west-southwest of Overbrook and northwest of Marietta. No damage was reported and the tornado path is estimated.

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

The warnings

42 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:24 UTC, 42 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:28 UTC and running to 03:32 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:28 UTC03:32 UTCTornado WatchOUN
23:29 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
23:38 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningOUN
00:01 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
00:24 UTC01:15 UTCTornado WarningOUN
00:25 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
01:06 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
01:06 UTC01:45 UTCTornado WarningOUN
01:33 UTC04:30 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:17 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

1.1 hours before the tornado, 132 km from the path. May 26, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2024-05-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3919 joules per kilogram, CIN -23, lifted condensation level 575 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 2024-05-26The 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 326 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 75 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
3919 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-23 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4067 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
575 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
75 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
326 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
262 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
6.8
Supercell composite
21.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 12:00Z

10.9 hours after it, 132 km from the path. May 26, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2024-05-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 875 joules per kilogram, CIN -388, lifted condensation level 1592 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 2024-05-26The 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 465 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 64 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
875 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-388 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1869 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1592 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
465 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
441 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Ardmore Downtown Exec Airport (1F0), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:15 UTC80.675.2130° 10 kt141005.4
23:35 UTC8075.4190° 7 kt1006.1
23:55 UTC8075.6160° 9 kt1004.4BR
00:15 UTC80.875.6180° 10 kt141005.8RA
00:35 UTC80.277170° 9 kt1005.4RA BR
00:55 UTC7977160° 13 kt231004.7RA BR
01:15 UTC71.666120° 14 kt241004.7RA
01:35 UTC7366.2110° 16 kt261004.4-RA
01:55 UTC7571.2110° 10 kt1004.1BR
02:15 UTC77.775.7120° 10 kt141004.4BR
02:35 UTC7876150° 9 kt1004.1BR
02:55 UTC7876.3140° 10 kt1003.4BR

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

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 144 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:08 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 25, 2024

19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 254:59 PM EDTEF0Beaver, PA0.130$10,000
May 255:16 PM CDTEF1Archer, TX3.4200$20,000
May 255:33 PM CDTEF1Clay, TX3.4100$2,000
May 255:42 PM CDTEF2Eastland, TX2.570$100,000
May 256:14 PM CDTEF1Woodward, OK2.650$40,000
May 256:29 PM CDTUnratedMajor, OK3.4200
May 257:15 PM CDTEF0Barber, KS1.31
May 257:29 PM CDTEF2Harper, KS6.7100
May 257:54 PM CDTUnratedLove, OK0.330
May 259:39 PM CDTEF3Valley View tornado, TX47.31,400780$19 million
May 2510:46 PM CDTEF1Denton, TX1.4800$1.0 million
May 2511:19 PM CDTEF3Claremore–Pryor tornado, OK23.92,000223$45 million
May 2511:20 PM CDTEF1Collin, TX8.3800$10,000
May 2511:23 PM CDTEF3Collin, TX0.7175$1.2 million
May 2512:07 AM CDTEF1Mayes, OK6.12,000$1.0 million
May 2512:15 AM CDTEF1Hunt, TX1.150$50,000
May 2512:25 AM CDTEF1Mayes, OK2.4300$3.8 million
May 2512:36 AM CDTEF1Delaware, OK1.8650
May 2512:59 AM CDTEF3Decatur tornado, Oklahoma and Arkansas7.93,2002$6.2 million

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.