EF4 tornado in Garfield County, Oklahoma

The Enid Tornado initially developed near or on the southwest portion of Vance Air Force Base and moved east-northeast crossing over the southern edge of the runway complex, but remaining south of the majority of structures on the base. However as the tornado crossed US-81, it moved through the Gray Ridge Estates neighborhood where most of the houses in the neighborhood sustained damage, and many destroyed or receiving significant damage. Damage to at least three homes in this neighborhood was rated EF4.

After moving northeast out of this neighborhood, the tornado moved through open land. Although the tornado continued moving through areas without structures, damage done to trees east of Leona Mitchell Blvd and north of Fox Drive was significant. At least one tree was debarked, and a hardwood tree was pulled from the ground and displaced 20 feet to the east. Farther northeast, significant ground scouring and severe tree damage was observed as the tornado crossed E0455 Road and South 16th Street. At Southgate Road, a number of structures were destroyed including two metal buildings, a warehouse and an outbuilding. An RV parked in this area was picked up and the chassis of this RV was found about 305-310 yards northeast of its origination point. Damage was rated EF4 in this area as well.

The tornado moved through more open land damaging trees as it approached S 30th Street. Radar and damage patterns indicate that the tornado moved in a loop briefly just southwest of South 30th Street and Rupe Road. A home was destroyed (EF4) and a number of other structures and trees were destroyed or heavily damaged along South 30th Street. Coming out of the loop, the tornado moved southeast across S 30th Street thereby continuing in relatively open land as opposed to moving northeast toward a d neighborhood on the southeast side of Enid. A farmstead was hit at S 42nd Street and Rupe Road destroying a barn, damaging the house and trees on the property.

Crossing Rupe Road, radar indicated the tornado likely moved in a loop again northeast of Rupe Road and S 42nd Street, before moving southeast and east and dissipating near Boggy Creek just west of Woodring Airport.

Despite the intensity of this tornado, there was only one injury that required transport.

Scientific notes: Researchers at the National Severe Storms Laboratory and the University of Illinois performed a variety of calculations to estimate the potential wind speed of the tornado. Two researchers performed a treefall pattern analysis to match the observed pattern of treefall to a simulated pattern from a vortex model. One researcher used this method to determine a probabilistic wind speed distribution from treefall near Southgate Road using six different sets of constraints. The calculated median maximum 3-second velocity in all of these six experiments was over 205 mph, and the interquartile range of two of these six experiments was completely over 200 mph.

A second researcher also performed a treefall analysis with a Monte Carlo simulation slightly adjusting the input variables. Taking the runs with the lowest 0.5% error, a median estimated maximum wind velocity of 94 m/s (210 mph) was calculated.

A third researcher made calculations of the 300 yard displacement of the RV near Southgate Road using simulations with a 3-dimensional vortex model that does include modeled vertical motion of the tornado, again using a Monte Carlo simulation. Of the simulations that provided the closest match the displacement of the RV, the maximum winds of these simulations were 91-97 m/s (204-217 mph).

Based on these engineering calculations that included both 3-dimensional vortex modeling (including vertical motions) and 3-second averaging wind speed averaging consistent with the EF-scale values, it is very highly likely that this tornado produced winds that would be classified as an EF5 tornado in the vicinity of Southgate Road.

The first of several days of severe weather across the WFO Norman Forecast Area featured intense thunderstorms (supercells) across northern Oklahoma on the evening of the 23rd. An emerging upper trough and sharp dryline facilitated development of scattered intense supercell thunderstorms across portions of northern Oklahoma, with reports of large to very large hail, thunderstorm wind damage and several tornadoes. In addition to a family of well-documented tornadoes from east of Medford, Oklahoma (Grant County) to near Braman, Oklahoma (Kay County), a violent tornado impacted areas around Vance Air Force Base and the south/east extents of Enid, Oklahoma. This tornado prompted a rare Tornado Emergency, the first in the WFO Norman Forecast Area since May 19th, 2024.