TornadoLookup

Home / Oklahoma / Cleveland

EF0 tornado in Cleveland County, Oklahoma

Tornado May 24, 2011 · Cleveland County, Oklahoma

EF0
Rating
33.3 mi
Whole path
200 yd
Path width
1
Death
48
Injuries

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Grady County → McClain County → Cleveland County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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

This tornado is labeled C1 (Segment #3 of the Chickasha-Blanchard-Newcastle tornado). Only minor tree/power pole/power line damage occurred inside the Cleveland county line. A few barns and outbuilding also sustained minor damage east of I-44. The tornado dissipated just north of the South Canadian River. After it was finally over, the tornado continued for just under an hour, with a length of around 32 miles. Peak wind speeds were estimated just under 200 mph. Monetary damage estimates were not available.

.

The wider storm

A tornado outbreak occurred over parts of northern and central Oklahoma during the day on the 24th, with violent tornadoes devastating several communities. By the end of the day, one EF-5, two EF-4, and two EF-3 tornadoes destroyed buildings, ripped up trees and power poles, and unfortunately, resulted in 11 deaths. The day began with a strong upper level trough ejecting out of the southwest United States. The trough took on a negative tilt as it approached the southern Plains. A strong jet stream was located at both the middle and upper levels rotating around the upper trough. At the surface, a low pressure strengthened rapidly over northwest Oklahoma, keeping the low-level flow of warm, moist air to flow east of a dry line that had moved into western Oklahoma. Thunderstorms developed by early afternoon over western Oklahoma, and quickly became supercellular as they moved northeast. Strong low-level rotation developed early, with the first tornado occurring over Blaine county, and moved northeast into Major county. Another supercell rapidly gained low-level rotation as it moved from Caddo into Canadian County. This tornado became the strongest of them all as it moved north of El Reno, west of Piedmont, and to south of Guthrie in Logan county. Nine people died as a result of this tornado. Two more powerful supercells developed over Grady county, and they moved northeast into McClain and Cleveland counties. Finally, the final tornado occurred east of Norman into Pottawatomie county. The timing of this outbreak could not have come at a worse time, as rush hour was just unfolding as the tornadoes neared the Oklahoma City metro area.

Began near Moore (35.3050, -97.5890).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 315860. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.