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EF2 tornado in Delaware County, Oklahoma

Tornado May 22, 2011 · Delaware County, Oklahoma

EF2
Rating
6.7 mi
Path length
800 yd
Path width
$1.0M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado severely damaged several permanent homes, destroyed boat docks, damaged a number of other permanent homes, destroyed at least seven mobile homes, and snapped or uprooted many large trees. Maximum estimated wind in the tornado based on this damage was about 130 mph.

The tornado developed south of Cleora and moved almost due east over land. It then moved across a portion of Grand Lake and back over land north of Dennis, where it appeared to move sharply to the southeast across the northern portion of a peninsula. It likely then moved back over Grand Lake where it dissipated. Storm chasers, storm spotters, and a number of citizens witnessed this tornado.

The wider storm

A very moist and very unstable air mass developed across eastern Oklahoma on the afternoon and evening of the 22nd as a dry line moved into the area from the west. Severe thunderstorms, including supercells, developed ahead of the dry line and moved across the area producing tornadoes, large hail up to softball size, and damaging wind gusts.

Began near Cleora (36.5530, -94.9733).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

9 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF3 Delaware CountyEF2 Adair CountyEF2 Delaware CountyEF1 Wagoner CountyEF1 Cherokee CountyEF1 Delaware CountyEF1 Delaware CountyEF0 Delaware CountyEF0 Cherokee County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 310045. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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