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EF3 tornado in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma

Tornado May 5, 2007 · Roger Mills County, Oklahoma

EF3
Rating
7.7 mi
Whole path
150 yd
Path width
1
Injury
$5.2M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Beckham County → Roger Mills County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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 is a continuation of the tornado that began in northern Beckham about 2 1/2 miles south of Sweetwater.

The tornado continued to produce damage as it moved north along Highway 30 into Sweetwater. The church and post office were damaged...as were several outbuildings and businesses.

Damage continued for approximately 5 miles north of Sweetwater, with some substantial tree damage noted on the west side of Highway 30...and numerous power lines downed.

The tornado appeared to have dissipated just south of E1040 road in southern Roger Mills County. Monetary damages were estimated.

The wider storm

An upper level storm system moved slowly into south central Colorado during the afternoon. A dry line had become established and was located along the Oklahoma and Texas panhandle border. Also, favorable upper level winds were rotating around the upper level storm system, crossing the dryline over western Oklahoma. As the afternoon progressed, convergence along the dryline became maximized over this area. Thunderstorms developed during the afternoon hours and they quickly became supercells. Two of the supercells produced several tornadoes. The northern tornadic storm produced five tornadoes from southwest of Roll to just east of Arnett. The southern tornadic storm also produced five tornadoes in Oklahoma from near Sweetwater to near Sharon. Large hail was also observed. The supercells moved northeast out of Oklahoma during the late evening hours. Monetary values for the tornado damage were estimated.

Began near Sweetwater (35.4200, -99.9200).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 35762. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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