F2 Tornado — Blaine, Oklahoma

2004-05-29 · near Geary, Blaine, Oklahoma

Event narrative

The second tornado of this storm began 3 miles NE of American Horse Lake, or 9 miles WNW of Geary. This tornado also was obscured by rain for much of its life cycle, but was documented at close range by the Doppler on Wheels (DOW). The center of the tornadic circulation initially moved ESE, approaching American Horse Road around 1824 (all times CST), 6-7 miles WNW of Geary, then turned to the ENE. Damage occurred over a wide swath to the right of the center of circulation, and was the combined result of the tornado and damaging winds from the very strong mesocyclone within which it was embedded. A peak instantaneous wind gust was measured by the DOW at 81 m/s (157 knots, or 181 mph) at a height of 6.5 meters AGL in the mesocyclone circulation just north of Geary at 1836. Four miles NW of Geary, several smaller-scale vortices developed around the initial circulation center - one of which became the dominant circulation and formed about a half a mile south of the original center at 1832. Due to continuity of the parent mesocyclone circulation and the continuous damage path, these circulation centers are considered to be sub-vortices within the same tornado, and not separate tornadoes. The newly-formed circulation center moved slightly south of due east, and crossed US270/281 at 1837 CST, 2 miles NNW of Geary. The tornado crossed into Canadian County at 1838 CST, 11.8 WNW of Calumet.The tornado caused widespread tree damage with trees downed or uprooted across the area. Several barns were also damaged or destroyed in Blaine county. A house sustained some roof damage and power lines were downed in the area. A stock trailer was found rolled and farm machinery damaged. An old church one mile north of Geary also lost its roof.

Wider weather episode

On this day one supercell thunderstorm produced all the tornadoes in the state of Oklahoma and a majority of the extremely large hail. This storm began in extreme west central Oklahoma, moved through center sections of the state, and ended in extreme eastern Oklahoma. The storm affected portions of both the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metropolitan areas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.9833, -96.7667)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5395741. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.