EF1 tornado in Ottawa County, Oklahoma
Tornado May 16, 2015 · Ottawa County, Oklahoma
NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Craig County → Delaware County → Delaware County → Ottawa County → Ottawa County → Ottawa County → Newton County, Missouri; the totals above are for the whole tornado.
The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.
What the National Weather Service wrote
This is the second segment of a two segment tornado. In Ottawa County, this tornado uprooted trees. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 90 to 100 mph.
The wider storm
A strong upper level disturbance translated from the Southern Rockies into the Southern Plains on the 16th. Very moist and unstable air was in place across the Southern Plains as this system approached. Severe thunderstorms developed over western Oklahoma and northwestern Texas during the afternoon and moved eastward into eastern Oklahoma in the late evening. By the time the storms reached eastern Oklahoma, a well-organized squall line had evolved but due to very strong low level wind shear, multiple tornadoes occurred across the area along with widespread damaging wind. Locally heavy rainfall resulted in flash flooding in some areas through the early morning hours of the 17th.
Began near Afton (36.6703, -94.8984).
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 579434. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.
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