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EF3 tornado in Atoka County, Oklahoma

Tornado May 25, 2015 · Atoka County, Oklahoma

EF3

Rating

18.8 mi

Whole path

700 yd

Path width

Death

Injury

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 700 yards (0.40 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

The tornado moved into Atoka County from Bryan County and moved generally north dissipating east of Caney. Homes suffered significant damage in Atoka County (DI 2, up to DOD 8) and one injury was reported east of Caney.

The wider storm

As an upper level trough continued to move over the central plains, storms formed ahead of a cold front in west Texas. These storms formed a line as the moved eastward and developed northward into Oklahoma.

Began near Caney (34.1570, -96.1792).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Atoka County EF1 Atoka County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 582554. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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