EF3 tornado, Elmer to Manitou, Texas, May 16, 2015

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

May 16, 2015

Touchdown

5:26 PM CDT (22:26 UTC)

Lifted

6:45 PM CDT (23:45 UTC)

On the ground

79 minutes

Path length

40.4 miles (65.0 km)

Path width

1,600 yards (1463 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Hardeman, Jackson, Wilbarger, Tillman and Kiowa counties

Touchdown point

34.380, -99.506

Lift-off point

34.656, -98.896

Record number

1505161626-03

98 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ABR and NWS OUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 143 mph.

• at least six poles snapped on north side of road
• center pivot irrigation rig blown over
• CP irrigation rig blown over
• masonry building with tin roof

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

With an upper low traversing the region, a cold front stationed over the panhandles, and a developing dryline, storms developed out in the panhandles early on the 16th and made their way eastward across Oklahoma through the day. Toward evening, when the severe weather occurred, the front surged eastward with a line of storms forming along it.

The tornado moved back into Jackson County from Wilbarger County Texas and moved across the southeast section of the county. Damage to trees, metal buildings and outbuildings were observed along US Highway 283 to the southeast of Elmer. Damage to homes and trees continued to be observed as the tornado moved east-northeast. The most significant damage was observed 3 to 4 miles east of Elmer (DI 1, DOD 8; DI 2, DOD 6; DI 21, DOD 7; DI 27, DOD 5). The tornadic motion seen on videos and the radar presentation indicate that this likely was a violent tornado through southeast Jackson County, although only EF3 damage was observed as the tornado moved through this relatively sparsely populated area. KFDR radar measured 115 knot gate-to-gate rotational velocity when the tornado was east of Elmer. The tornado continued east-northeast moving into Tillman County about 4 miles west of Tipton.

The tornado moved out of Jackson County and continued northeast passing into Kiowa County north of Manitou. EF2 damage continued to be observed north of Tipton, but again the tornado moved through sparsely populated farmland across northwestern Tillman County. The tornado width decreased from 1300 yards to 700 yards by the time it moved into Kiowa County.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:59 UTC and running to 00:09 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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.

Altus Afb (LTS), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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 2015 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

47 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.