F1 tornado, Oklaunion, Texas, April 30, 2000

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 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. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 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

F1

Date

April 30, 2000

Touchdown

5:30 PM CDT (22:30 UTC)

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

70 yards (64 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Wilbarger County

Touchdown point

34.120, -99.120

Lift-off point

34.130, -99.070

Record number

722

Numerous severe thunderstorms moved across western portions of north Texas during the afternoon and evening of the 30th. Four tornadoes were confirmed, and there were numerous reports of large hail and some straight-line wind damage.

This tornado formed 1.5 miles southeast of Oklaunion on the south side of Highway 287 with information of its existence coming from a Doppler-On-Wheels chase team, but was later confirmed by descriptions of damage from the Oklaunion Fire Department. One tied down mobile home on the north side of Highway 287 was ripped up by the wind and strewn over a half mile area. The base of the mobile home was picked up and placed against the side of a barn 20 feet to its east. Three large barns had roof and wall damage, and one barn had several two by fours stuck sideways into its east-facing wall. Two grain storage bins had their roofs blown off, and the foundation of one bin was moved about 18 inches. One shed was damaged, and another was blown away. Also, a driver traveling on Highway 287 pulled over to the side of the road to wait out the storm and had a two by four blown through the back window. Although this tornado was rated F1, most damage is consistent with F0 damage.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:19 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.

Frederick (FDR), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

13 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.