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F2 tornado in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma

Tornado April 18, 2002 · Alfalfa County, Oklahoma

F2
Rating
15.0 mi
Path length
1,500 yd
Path width
$75K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,500 yards (0.85 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado is a continuation of the tornado that developed in Major County and moved through Woods County. The tornado tracked for another 15 miles in Alfalfa County before dissipating 2 miles southwest of Ingersoll. As the tornado entered Alfalfa County, damage was sustained to outbuildings, trees and power lines, along State Highway 45 to the west of Carmen. Large trees were uprooted or snapped, and a windmill was destroyed along EW 25 Road to the east of NS 253 Road, or about 4.5 miles southwest of Lambert. Along the west side of NS 255 Road, between EW 23 Road and EW 22 Road (about 2.5 miles west of Lambert), a barn roof was removed as was the west section of the barn. Numerous power poles were snapped along EW 22 Road in a ½ mile area to the east of NS 255 Road. Several high-tension power poles were damaged or destroyed west of NS 256 Road and south of EW 21 Road. Significant tree damage and a couple of destroyed outbuildings were observed at the northeast corner of EW 20 and NS 256 Roads, about 5.5 miles southwest of Cherokee. The tornado continued north-northeast with the last damage observed along EW 17 Road just east of NS 257 Road, 2 miles southwest of Ingersoll, or about 4 miles west-northwest of Cherokee.In total, the tornado persisted for 62 minutes and traveled 34 miles.

The wider storm

Numerous severe thunderstorms were observed over western Oklahoma during the afternoon and evening of the 17th and early morning of the 18th. Four tornadoes were confirmed, and there were several reports of very large hail, even one report of softball size hail (4.5 inches in diameter). The tornadoes were at night with the largest tornado, believed to be up to one mile wide, causing a maximum of F2 damage over a 34 mile path across northwest Oklahoma. Another tornado resulted in F3 damage.

Began near Carmen (36.5833, -98.5167).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5287605. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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