Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2014
EF0 tornado, Burkburnett, Texas, May 7, 2014
This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Wichita County on May 7, 2014, touching down at 7:03 PM CDT and reaching 75 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- May 7, 2014
- Touchdown
- 7:03 PM CDT (00:03 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:04 PM CDT (00:04 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.3 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Wichita County
- Touchdown point
- 34.033, -98.602
- Lift-off point
- 34.033, -98.602
- Record number
- 1405071803-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A large upper level trough became established over the western U.S. bringing strong southwest flow across the Southern Plains. At the surface, a north to south oriented dryline became well established across western north Texas. This dryline served as a focus for several rounds of supercell thunderstorms. Sporadic severe wind and hail occurred, along with a couple of brief tornadoes.
Storm spotters and chasers observed a brief tornado southwest of Burkburnett. No damage is known to have occurred and the location of the tornado is estimated.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
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 19:59 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.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Norman, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 7, 6:26 PM CDT, 37 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 7, 6:26 PM CDT, 37 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
626 PM CDT WED MAY 7 2014
.DISCUSSION...
PLEASE SEE THE 00Z AVIATION DISCUSSION BELOW.
&&
.AVIATION...
THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTHEAST ACROSS PORTIONS OF
WESTERN OK AND WESTERN N TX THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS.
THEN...LATER TONIGHT...THUNDERSTORMS WILL REDEVELOP AND LIKELY
IMPACT MOST OF THE TERMINALS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF WWR AND GAG.
THE STORMS DURING THE LATE NIGHT AND EARLY MORNING HOURS WILL
LIKELY NOT BE SEVERE. MVFR CIGS CAN BE EXPECTED DURING THE EARLY
MORNING HOURS AS WELL. WINDS WILL REMAIN ELEVATED AROUND 15 TO 25
KT DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS.
&&
.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 346 PM CDT WED MAY 7 2014/
DISCUSSION...
TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...
A FEW ISOLATED STORMS HAVE STARTED TO FIRE ALONG THE DRYLINE ACROSS
OUR SOUTHWESTERN COUNTIES. THIS ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE
THROUGH THE EVENING...MAINLY IMPACTING PARTS OF SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA
AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS. INSTABILITY AND SHEAR ARE IN PLACE TO
SUPPORT A POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE STORMS...WITH HAIL AND WIND AS THE
MAIN THREATS.
MEANWHILE...AN UPPER LEVEL LOW MAKING ITS WAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY
WILL ACT AS A FOCUS FOR MORE WIDESPREAD STORMS OVERNIGHT INTO
TOMORROW MORNING. WITHOUT THE AID OF DAYTIME HEATING... OVERNIGHT
STORMS WILL NOT BE AS STRONG AS THOSE THIS EVENING... HOWEVER...
ENOUGH INSTABILITY AND SHEAR WILL REMAIN IN PLACE TO CONTINUE A
SEVERE THREAT. MOST HI RES MODELS SHOW THESE STORMS FORMING INTO A
SQUALL LINE EARLY THURSDAY MORNING BEFORE EXITING EASTWARD.
GOING INTO FRIDAY MORNING...A COLD FRONT WILL BRING A BRIEF WIND
SHIFT TO THE NORTH. TEMPERATURES WILL BE MINIMALLY IMPACTED.
WESTERN COUNTIES COULD EXPERIENCE ELEVATED FIRE WEATHER ON THURSDAY
AS MINIMUM RH VALUES DROP INTO THE TEENS. WINDS SHOULD STAY JUST
BELOW 20 MPH. FRIDAY AND SATURDAY WILL ALSO SEE LOW MINIMUM RH
VALUES...HOWEVER...WINDS SHOULD BE LIGHTER.
14
SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...
MADE ONLY MINOR CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED FORECAST... AFTER THE
EASTWARD PROGRESSION OF THE CURRENT H500 TROUGH ACROSS THE CENTRAL
CONUS THROUGH FRI... BROAD UPPER LEVEL TROUGHING EXTENDING FROM
COAST TO COAST WILL SET UP THROUGH SATURDAY. ADJUSTED POPS
SLIGHTLY... BUT CURRENT MID-RANGE GUIDANCE TRENDS HAVE VARIED
LITTLE FROM OVERNIGHT... SO MADE ONLY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO THE
PRECIP/WX GRIDS INHERITED FROM SPEG ON THE NIGHT SHIFT.
THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL INCREASE LATE SAT/EARLY SUN AS AN H500
TROUGH DIGS ACROSS THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST. IN RESPONSE TO THE
TROUGH... A STRONG COLD FRONT LOOKS TO DIVE S/SE ACROSS THE SRN
PLAINS... WITH SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING ALONG AND
AHEAD OF IT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY MONDAY. WITH SOME
VARIABILITY BETWEEN LONG RANGE SOLUTIONS... SPECIFICS ON RAINFALL
AMOUNTS AND ANY SEVERE POTENTIAL WILL NEED TO BE SAVED FOR ANOTHER
DAY... UNTIL MORE CONSISTENCY EXISTS. BEHIND THE FRONT... TEMPS
WILL DIP BACK TO NEAR NORMAL ON MONDAY... WITH A GRADUAL WARM UP
THROUGH MID-WEEK AS THE SFC HIGHS SHIFTS TO THE E/SE.
04
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
OKLAHOMA CITY OK 67 82 59 80 / 40 60 20 10
HOBART OK 64 89 54 83 / 40 30 10 0
WICHITA FALLS TX 67 87 60 87 / 50 50 10 10
GAGE OK 60 85 48 80 / 20 10 10 0
PONCA CITY OK 70 82 58 78 / 40 50 50 10
DURANT OK 69 79 67 85 / 30 80 30 20
&&
.OUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OK...RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR OKZ004-005-009-
010-014-021-033-034.
TX...NONE.
&&
99/03/03Hazardous weather outlook, May 7, 4:59 PM CDT, 2 hours 4 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK 459 PM CDT WED MAY 7 2014 OKZ004>048-050>052-TXZ083>090-082200- HARPER-WOODS-ALFALFA-GRANT-KAY-ELLIS-WOODWARD-MAJOR-GARFIELD- NOBLE-ROGER MILLS-DEWEY-CUSTER-BLAINE-KINGFISHER-LOGAN-PAYNE- BECKHAM-WASHITA-CADDO-CANADIAN-OKLAHOMA-LINCOLN-GRADY-MCCLAIN- CLEVELAND-POTTAWATOMIE-SEMINOLE-HUGHES-HARMON-GREER-KIOWA-JACKSON- TILLMAN-COMANCHE-STEPHENS-GARVIN-MURRAY-PONTOTOC-COAL-COTTON- JEFFERSON-CARTER-JOHNSTON-ATOKA-LOVE-MARSHALL-BRYAN-HARDEMAN- FOARD-WILBARGER-WICHITA-KNOX-BAYLOR-ARCHER-CLAY- 459 PM CDT WED MAY 7 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHERN... WESTERN...CENTRAL...AND SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA...AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THROUGH TONIGHT... .THUNDERSTORMS... THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH TONIGHT ACROSS PORTIONS OF OKLAHOMA AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS. LOCATION... THE SLIGHT RISK AREA IS GENERALLY WEST OF A LINE FROM SEMINOLE TO MADILL...INCLUDING THE WESTERN HALF OF OKLAHOMA AND ALL OF WESTERN NORTH TEXAS. THE SLIGHT RISK AREA INCLUDES OKLAHOMA CITY...WICHITA FALLS... LAWTON...PONCA CITY...ENID...CLINTON...ALTUS...AND STILLWATER. TIMING... THE PEAK HOURS FOR SEVERE STORMS WILL BE BETWEEN 4 PM AND 10 PM. SEVERE STORMS WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT...BUT OVERALL INTENSITY WILL BE LESS. IMPACTS... VERY LARGE HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF TENNIS BALLS... DAMAGING WIND GUSTS UP TO 70 MPH... LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL OF 1 TO 2 INCHES... DISCUSSION... SUPERCELLS WILL CONTINUE NEAR AND JUST EAST OF A DRYLINE ACROSS WESTERN OKLAHOMA AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS...AND THEN MOVE NORTHEAST TO NEAR CENTRAL OKLAHOMA DURING THE EVENING HOURS. LATE TONIGHT...THE APPROACH OF A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL ALLOW FOR MORE STORM DEVELOPMENT AND GREATER COVERAGE OF STORMS. FIRST REDEVELOPMENT MAY BE AROUND MIDNIGHT ACROSS WESTERN OR SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA. A FEW STORMS MAY BE SEVERE...DUE TO MODERATE INSTABILITY AND INCREASING SHEAR...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS AS THE MAIN HAZARDS. STORMS LATE TONIGHT ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE AS SEVERE COMPARED TO THE STORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...AND MAY BECOME ELEVATED. STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO ORGANIZE INTO CLUSTERS OR PERHAPS A SQUALL LINE LATE TONIGHT AND MOVE EAST. WITH ABUNDANT MOISTURE MOVING INTO THE AREA...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL OF 1 TO 2 INCHES MAY OCCUR LATE TONIGHT. .SPOTTER AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT STATEMENT... STORM SPOTTER GROUPS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL ACROSS MUCH OF OKLAHOMA AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS SHOULD PREPARE FOR SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS THROUGH THIS EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... .THUNDERSTORMS... A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THURSDAY AND THURSDAY EVENING ACROSS THE AREA. THE MAIN HAZARDS WILL BE LARGE HAIL UP TO GOLF BALL SIZE AND DAMAGING WINDS UP TO 70 MPH. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL CONTINUE ACROSS PARTS OF THE AREA THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. A FEW SEVERE STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE. GET GRAPHICS AND MORE DETAILS AT WEATHER.GOV/NORMAN...AND FOLLOW OUR WEATHER FORECAST OFFICE ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK. MBS/CMS
In the hours before
Local storm report, May 7, 6:15 PM CDT, 48 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
615 PM CDT WED MAY 07 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0613 PM HAIL 2 E JOLLY 33.87N 98.31W
05/07/2014 E2.75 INCH CLAY TX AMATEUR RADIO
&&
DWLocal storm report, May 7, 6:25 PM CDT, 38 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
625 PM CDT WED MAY 07 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0625 PM HAIL 1 E JOLLY 33.88N 98.33W
05/07/2014 E2.50 INCH CLAY TX STORM CHASER
&&
JTKSpecial weather statement, May 7, 6:34 PM CDT, 29 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
634 PM CDT WED MAY 7 2014
OKZ035-038-080000-
KIOWA OK-COMANCHE OK-
634 PM CDT WED MAY 7 2014
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR EASTERN KIOWA AND NORTHWESTERN
COMANCHE COUNTIES UNTIL 700 PM CDT...
AT 632 PM CDT...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 8 MILES SOUTHEAST
OF COOPERTON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
HAZARDS INCLUDE...
HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF NICKELS...
WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH...
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
MONITOR THE WEATHER SITUATION CLOSELY AND BE ALERT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS.
&&
LAT...LON 3495 9863 3492 9862 3486 9862 3485 9858
3478 9855 3463 9882 3480 9883
TIME...MOT...LOC 2332Z 234DEG 33KT 3475 9880
WRLocal storm report, May 7, 6:52 PM CDT, 11 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
652 PM CDT WED MAY 07 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0533 PM HAIL 4 SE CUSTER CITY 35.63N 98.83W
05/07/2014 E1.75 INCH CUSTER OK TRAINED SPOTTER
0533 PM HAIL 2 SE CUSTER CITY 35.64N 98.86W
05/07/2014 E1.75 INCH CUSTER OK PUBLIC
0640 PM TSTM WND GST 3 W GRANDFIELD 34.23N 98.74W
05/07/2014 M64 MPH TILLMAN OK MESONET
&&
DWLocal storm report, May 7, 6:53 PM CDT, 10 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
653 PM CDT WED MAY 07 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0646 PM HAIL 3 S CHATTANOOGA 34.38N 98.65W
05/07/2014 E1.00 INCH COTTON OK AMATEUR RADIO
&&
DWSpecial weather statement, May 7, 6:54 PM CDT, 9 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
654 PM CDT WED MAY 7 2014
OKZ033-036-TXZ083-080030-
HARMON OK-JACKSON OK-HARDEMAN TX-
654 PM CDT WED MAY 7 2014
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHERN HARMON...WEST CENTRAL
JACKSON AND NORTHWESTERN HARDEMAN COUNTIES UNTIL 730 PM CDT...
AT 651 PM CDT...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 9 MILES SOUTH OF
HOLLIS...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
HAZARDS INCLUDE...
HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF NICKELS...
WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH...
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
MONITOR THE WEATHER SITUATION CLOSELY AND BE ALERT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS.
&&
LAT...LON 3484 9972 3477 9972 3477 9969 3475 9967
3473 9967 3472 9965 3458 9957 3451 10000
3469 10000
TIME...MOT...LOC 2351Z 230DEG 34KT 3455 9991
WRThe 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
0.1 hours before the tornado, 172 km from the path. May 8, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1446 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -190 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2377 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1001 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 193 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 222 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 2.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.3 K/km
The surface observations
Wichita Falls/Shep (SPS), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:02 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 2014 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of May 7, 2014
6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.