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EF2 tornado in Osage County, Oklahoma

Tornado May 24, 2011 · Osage County, Oklahoma

EF2

Rating

17.0 mi

Path length

750 yd

Path width

$20K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 750 yards (0.43 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 snapped or uprooted a number of large trees and snapped power poles. Maximum estimated wind in the tornado based on this damage was about 115 mph.

The wider storm

Severe thunderstorms developed along a dry line over central Oklahoma during the afternoon hours. Very unstable air and strong wind shear east of the dry line supported supercell thunderstorm structures, which persisted as the storms moved into eastern Oklahoma during the evening hours. These severe storms produced tornadoes, large hail to golfball size, and very strong damaging downburst wind across much of eastern Oklahoma.

Began near Gray Horse (36.4650, -96.5760).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Muskogee County EF2 Wagoner County EF2 Le Flore County EF1 Osage County EF1 Delaware County EF1 Delaware County EF1 Latimer County EF1 Sequoyah County EF0 Le Flore County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 310353. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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