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EF3 tornado in Bryan County, Oklahoma

Tornado April 30, 2019 · Bryan County, Oklahoma

EF3
Rating
27.6 mi
Whole path
1,400 yd
Path width
2
Deaths
16
Injuries
$300K
Damage as recorded

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 1,400 yards (0.80 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

A tornado developed about 2 miles south-southeast of Blue, and quickly became a large and strong tornado. Before crossing SH-70 east of Blue, the tornado widened to 1400 yards and damaged or destroyed a number of mobile homes. One mobile home was blown about 50-75 yards east-northeast into a grove of trees. A woman in this mobile home suffered significant injuries and died in a hospital on May 2. The tornado crossed US-70 producing significant tree damage. Just north of US-70, another mobile home was destroyed and blown away with another fatality. The tornado moved northeast into a less densely populate area, although at least one other home was unroofed northeast of Blue.

About two miles south of the Atoka County line, the tornado hit an anchored mobile home that was destroyed with the debris scattered hundreds of yards to the east and southeast. The tornado continued to produce tree damage in northern Bryan County and moved into Atoka County near just west of Matoy Road.

The wider storm

A stationary front and and upper wave produced numerous thunderstorms with a variety of severe weather on the 30th.

Began near Blue (33.9711, -96.2071).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Lincoln CountyEF1 Payne CountyEF1 Johnston CountyEF1 Coal CountyEFU Murray CountyEFU Tillman County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 822242. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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