The river receded Tuesday, she said. [10][11][12], A quasi-linear complex of thunderstorms began developing near the Highway 81 corridor west of Oklahoma City between 4:00 and 4:45 p.m. CDT, and rapidly reached severe intensity. El Reno, Oklahoma Mayor Matt White said during a news conference Sunday that "there have been two fatalities at this point in time" after a Saturday night tornado ripped through the town. [52], Overall, eight people lost their lives as a result of the tornado, all of whom were killed in vehicles. A tornado leveled a motel and tore through a mobile home park near Oklahoma City, killing two people and injuring at least 29 others, authorities said on Sunday.. It came six years, almost to the day, after El Reno was hit by another EF-3 tornado. [5], As the tornadoes approached the Oklahoma City metro, thousands of residents decided to leave the area for safety, possibly due to the still fresh memories of the devastation caused by the EF5 tornado that struck Moore on May 20. The tool was named "Tornado Environment Display" (TED) after Dr. Ted Fujita. She said there are four houses in danger if rain continues. [18], The intensity of the tornado has been a subject of internal debate within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This analysis showed that both the Weather Channel and TWISTEX vehicles entered the tornado through the less intense north/northwestern side, then were impacted by the internal sub-vortex, which contained radar-indicated winds approaching 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) and was moving in a complex quasi-trochoidal pattern, sometimes nearly stationary, sometimes with forward speeds over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). Multiple nighttime tornadoes moved through central Oklahoma, including in El Reno, where a tornado killed two people Saturday night. [39] The Discovery Channel scheduled a special tribute episode of Storm Chasers titled Mile Wide Tornado: Oklahoma Disaster on June 5, both honoring the three chasers and covering the events of the EF5-rated tornado that struck Moore and portions of southern Oklahoma City eleven days earlier on May 20. Gov. A deadly tornado swept through the small Oklahoma town of El Reno late Saturday, destroying buildings and claiming lives, according to multiple news reports. [8] These factors, along with CAPE values in excess of 4000 J/kg and an embedded speed maxima rotating around the southern periphery of the low, made the threat of significant severe thunderstorms increasingly likely. Late Saturday, the National Weather Service office in Norman, Okla., sent out a Twitter message warning Oklahoma residents of an approaching tornado. She was born April 10, 1952, in San Antonio, Texas. [26][27], The tornado's unusual behavior consisted of these simultaneous occurrences: abrupt changes in direction, rapid enlargement to a width of 2.6 mi (4.2 km) in diameter in about 30 seconds, swift increase in forward motion from about 20 to 55 mph (32 to 89 km/h) within a few minutes, multiple vortices within and around, and an expansive translucent outer circulation without a full condensation funnel while being surrounded and obscured by precipitation made it a worst-case scenario for storm chasers. Read more about Agnes Littlehawk; In-page image(s) Shirley Jordan. “You will NOT be able to see these tornado [sic] so don’t even bother looking. [50] The following day, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin toured damaged areas of El Reno. [42] In association with the project, software was unveiled in 2015 allowing for the synchronization of maps, radar data, and storm chasers' footage of the storm. "[25], On August 30, the National Weather Service office in Norman once again revised the intensity of the El Reno tornado. Though the El Reno tornado officially ranks as the widest on record, Doppler Radar – El Reno / Union City Oklahoma EF5 Tornado May 31, 2013, May 31, 2013 EF5 El Reno Tornado Showing Multiple Funnels/Sub Vortices Filmed from Dominator, 'Dangerous Day Ahead' – May 31, 2013 El Reno, OK Tornado Weather Channel Special, Storms of the Great Plains: the El Reno, Oklahoma tornado, May 31, 2013, Tornado outbreak sequence of May 21–26, 2011 § Hinton–Calumet–El Reno–Piedmont–Guthrie, Oklahoma, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks, "A Multiscale Overview of the el Reno, Oklahoma, Tornadic Supercell of 31 May 2013", "The storm chaser dilemma and choice to sit out the May 31 Oklahoma City tornadoes", "Oklahoma storms: Amateur storm chaser took photo of tornado that killed him", "The Role of Multiple-Vortex Tornado Structure in Causing Storm Researcher Fatalities", "Historic El Reno, OK tornado is downgraded by National Weather Service", "Central Oklahoma Tornadoes and Flash Flooding – May 31, 2013", "A Night of Tornado Chaos in Oklahoma City: 9 Killed, 71 Injured", "May 31, 2013 0600 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook", Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch 262, "Special Weather Statement: Tornado Watch", National Weather Service Norman, Oklahoma, Iowa Environmental Mesonet NWS Product Archive, "Special Weather Statement: Tornado Warning", "The Last Ride of Legendary Storm Chaser Tim Samaras", "Low-Level Winds in Tornadoes and Potential Catastrophic Tornado Impacts in Urban Areas", Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, "NWS releases statement about El Reno tornado rating", "Largest Tornado on Record: the May 31 El Reno, OK EF-5 Tornado", "Some Considerations for the Use of High-Resolution Mobile Radar Data in Tornado Intensity Determination", "El Reno tornado is 'super rare' national record-breaker", "El Reno, Union City tornado widest tornado on record", "El Reno, Oklahoma Tornado Believed To Be Widest Twister On Record", "Storm Events Database: May 31, 2013 Tornado", "Was El Reno Oklahoma Tornado downgraded to ef 3", "Storm Chasing Critical, Profitable and Dangerous", "Storm chasers' deaths in Oklahoma tornado prompt questions, calls for regulation", "Colorado storm chaser Tim Samaras killed in Oklahoma tornado along with son, longtime partner", "Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras' Last Ride", "3 veteran storm chasers killed by Oklahoma tornado", "The day that should change tornado actions and storm chasing forever", "Weather Channel vehicle tossed by tornado", "Emily Sutton, photographer Kevin Josefy have very close call with El Reno tornado", "Amateur storm chaser survives tornado under overpass", "The Weather Channel's "Tornado Hunt 2013" vehicle flips over while chasing May 31 tornadoes", "Storm Chasing Community Pays Tribute To Tim Samaras", "El Reno Survey – A Survey of the tornado of 31 May 2013", "Look Inside Largest Tornado Ever With New Tool", "Oklahoma Campus, Ravaged by a Tornado, Draws Attention to Storm Shelters", "OK Insurance Commissioner Tours El Reno Damage", "El Reno Mayor Foresees Long Road To Recovery After May Tornado", "Red Cross Opens Shelters For Storm Victims", "El Reno tornado victims get unusual temporary housing", "12 Dead in Aftermath of Destructive Tornadoes", "Body of 4-year-old boy found in river after Oklahoma tornado outbreak", "As tornadoes neared, drivers hit the road – with deadly results", "Preliminary Results from the ROTATE-2013 (Radar Observations of Tornadoes and Thunderstorms) experiment", "Aerial Damage Survey of the 2013 El Reno Tornado Combined with Mobile Radar Data", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2013_El_Reno_tornado&oldid=1005831096, 2013 natural disasters in the United States, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 9 February 2021, at 16:57. Colorado storm chaser … With a broad influence of moderately strong cyclonic flow aloft, the air mass was expected to become unstable across much of the southern Great Plains, through the Upper Midwest and Mississippi Valley, by the afternoon. [29][33][34] Meteorologist Emily Sutton and storm chaser Kevin Josefy of Oklahoma City NBC affiliate KFOR-TV (channel 4) were also caught in the path of the storm; their vehicle was damaged by debris hurled by the tornado. The tornado continued to the east-northeast for an additional 35 miles but failed to impact any populated areas. These locations are typically much safer than an automobile in tornadic winds. Damage from a tornado is seen in El Reno, Oklahoma on Sunday. "[6], Alongside rush hour traffic, thousands of residents in Oklahoma City attempted to outrun the storm by taking to the roads in an attempt to drive out of the tornado's projected path. [2] Although the tornado remained over mostly open terrain, dozens of storm chasers unaware of its immense size and erratic movement were caught off-guard. The tornado struck the south-east of El Reno at about 22:30 local time (03:30 GMT) on Saturday. [53] Local hospitals in Oklahoma City, including OU Medical Center and INTEGRIS Southwest Medical Center, and Mercy Hospital in El Reno, reported receiving at least 115 injured, including five critical patients. [48] Several other rural homes were destroyed, and large amounts of gravel was blown off of gravel roads in the area, with only the dirt underneath left at some locations. [32], Mike Bettes, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, was also caught in the storm. I had been on it from birth. Paul Samaras and Young were ejected from their Chevrolet Cobalt by the storm's sub-vortex, while Tim was still buckled in the passenger's seat. The El Reno tornado was a large tornado that touched down from a supercell thunderstorm on May 31, 2013 southwest of El Reno, Oklahoma. Such companion tornadoes tend to be observed with especially large and intense tornadoes, although this was the first documented multiple-vortex anticyclonic tornado of this kind. [4] Overall, the tornado was responsible for eight fatalities and 151 injuries. ... As the EF5 El Reno–Piedmont tornado dissipated on the evening of the 24th, a separate supercell thunderstorm produced another violent tornado further to the south in Grady County. Agnes died Jan. 31, 2021, at Post-Acute Rehabilitation Center in El Reno. In Payne County, a Perkins woman, Laura Moorman, 53, drowned May 21 when she drove around a high water barrier and her car was swept into waters where she drowned, authorities reported. [Chris Landsberger/The Oklahoman]. [16], A strong anticyclonic multivortex satellite tornado also formed southeast of the primary tornado at approximately 6:28 pm CDT (2328 UTC), and remained on the ground for 15 minutes before lifting at 6:43 (2343 UTC). A Doppler on Wheels-based analysis of how the tornado impacted these teams revealed that they were hit by an intense internal sub-vortex. This prompted the National Weather Service office in Norman to issue a tornado emergency for Yukon, Richland, Wiley Post Airport, Bethany, The Village, and eastern El Reno, as the tornado was projected to track toward western portions of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. [28] Many were located in a region northeast of the tornado, known as the "bear's cage". The victims have been identified as Bridget Brockwell, 47, and Timothy Solis, 54. Overall, the tornado was on the ground for 40 minutes along a 16.2-mile (26.1 km) path. Several large steel-frame warehouse type buildings were destroyed at that location. [20], Rick Smith, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Norman, stated that this tornado was among a "super-rare" category within the EF5 rating. Damage totals at that location alone were estimated at up to $40 million. Rather, these rotating curtains of rain were the outer circulation of the tornado itself. [57] Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground stated that had the tornado tracked directly over one of the congested highways, the death toll could have easily exceeded 500. Residents of Canadian County are also recovering from floods last week, which also impacted Kingfisher and Logan counties. Amen. An EF3 tornado hit an area near U.S. 81 and State Highway 66 on Saturday night, and was on the ground about 4 minutes, the National Weather Service reported. [20][21], Revised RaXPol analysis found winds of 302 mph (486 km/h) well above ground level and ≥291 mph (468 km/h) below 10 m (33 ft), with some subvortices moving at 175 mph (282 km/h). Friday's El Reno Tornado Called Widest In U.S. History : The Two-Way New data about the tornado, which has been blamed for 18 deaths, was released Tuesday. Brockwell and Solis were killed in Skyview Estates, a mobile home community, authorities confirmed. *Most recent tornado with this number of deaths. At least 29 buildings and 40 vehicles were damaged or destroyed by the tornado, with repairs in the El Reno area expected to take at least a year. This included three severe storm researchers who were killed east of U.S. Highway 81 as the tornado overtook their position. The tornado's unusual behavior consisted of these simultaneous occurrences: abrupt changes in direction, rapid enlargement to a width of 2.6 mi (4.2 km) in diameter in about 30 seconds, swift increase in forward motion from about 20 to 55 mph (32 to 89 km/h) within a few minutes, multiple vortices within and around, and an expansive translucentouter circulation without a full condensation funnel while being surrounded and obscured by precipitation made it a worst-case scenario for storm chasers. [47] Several large metal electrical transmission poles were downed, trees were snapped and defoliated, and multiple vehicles were tossed from roadways in the area. [29], On June 2, dozens of members of the storm chasing and spotting communities coordinated a tribute to Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young. El Reno Mayor Matt White said during a news conference on Sunday morning that at least two people were killed when the tornado destroyed a motel and ripped through a nearby mobile home park during its 2-mile path. Tornado-related deaths also occurred in Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. [31] Tim's body was found still buckled in the passenger's seat. The National Weather Service referred to the tornado as "the most dangerous tornado in storm observing history. Within minutes, the tornado turned northeast and soon passed directly over Interstate 40 at around 6:42 p.m. CDT (2342 UTC). Turning northeastward, the tornado soon weakened. The degree of wind shear, moisture and instability within the warm sector favored the development of discrete supercells. [23][24] The main funnel is believed to have had radar-estimated EF4 winds, with wind speeds around 185 mph (298 km/h). Using GPS transponders over Spotter Network, they aligned themselves to spell out the initials of the three men in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska for many hours. EL RENO, Okla. – Officials say there have been at least two deaths associated with a tornado that tore through the community of El Reno late Saturday night. [35] University of Oklahoma student Billy Prater, along with his father and a friend, sought refuge under an overpass (an action strongly discouraged in these situations) when the tornado changed direction. Authorities have released the names of the two people who died over the weekend when an EF3 tornado hit El Reno. [37] The hood of Reed Timmer's Dominator 2, a vehicle designed for intercepting tornadoes, was torn off. Local resident Richard Henderson, who decided to follow the storm, lost his life in that same area. Anton Seimon, one of the tool's architects, said that while the tool had only been used in relation to the El Reno tornado, it could potentially be applied to future tornadoes with sufficient footage as well. He snapped a picture of the tornado from his cellular phone before it struck him. El Reno is a city of about 16,700 residents, about 29 miles west of Oklahoma City. These winds are considered the second-highest ever measured worldwide, just shy of the 301 ± 20 mph (484 ± 32 km/h) recorded during the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado. A moderately strong polar jet moved east-northeastward over the southern Rocky Mountains to the southern Great Plains. Smith also stated that it was fortunate the tornado did not track into more densely populated areas, particularly those within the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, "this would have been … I don't even want to imagine what it would have been. [17] Shortly thereafter, the tornado lifted off the ground as it neared Banner Road. Chasers can generally get a clear view of the tornado from that area; however, it places them at great risk and with little time to react should the storm take a left turn. Multiple large brick buildings at the nearby Canadian Valley Technology Center were heavily damaged or destroyed, and a large metal wind turbine prop blade was thrown 100 yards (91 m) into the side of a daycare building on the property. The three making up TWISTEX - storm chaser Tim Samaras, his son photographer Paul Samaras, and meteorologist Carl Young - set out to attempt research on the tornado. [54][55] Overall, 151 injuries were attributed to the tornado. Tim Samaras, 55, … Near Highway 81, TWISTEX scientist and engineer Tim Samaras, along with his son Paul and research partner Carl Young, died in the tornado. The National Weather Service confirmed Sunday that a tornado hit El Reno, a town with a population of nearly 20,000, on Saturday and left a swath of damage that will take weeks to clean up and pain loved ones of the dead will likely never get over. Surveys from the National Weather Service revealed that structures in its path sustained EF3-level damage at most. One of the most powerful tornadoes ever recorded in the United States barreled across southern Plains on May 31, 2013, devastating areas near El Reno, Oklahoma. "[19] The lack of EF5 damage was likely a result of the rural nature of the area, as the sub-vortices that contained the EF5 wind speeds did not impact any structures. It destroyed a hotel and damaged a mobile home park. [6] The tornado ultimately attained EF3 intensity during its existence, according to ground surveys. Lori Dahlem, a volunteer firefighter in Twin Lakes in Logan County, said 10 houses have fallen into the Cimarron River as flooding has caused the banks to erode. [30] Normally, Tim drove a reinforced three-quarter ton truck optimized for hail protection and stability in high winds; however, on May 31, Carl was driving an unmodified Chevrolet Cobalt, a subcompact vehicle with three 45-lb barometric probes in the trunk likened by one TWISTEX chaser to a "pizza delivery car", making it much less suited to high winds and rain-slicked backcountry dirt roads. "It's a tragic scene out there," White said. At 5:33 p.m. CDT (2233 UTC), the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Norman, Oklahoma issued a tornado warning for Canadian County, prompted by increasingly strong tornadic circulation exhibited in the southernmost supercell of this complex. Before retiring, she worked for Concho Child Development. [7], This article is about the record-breaking tornado in 2013. But some of the assessments have been slowed by the number of areas that are still underwater — making it hard to survey the full extent of the damage, she said. The chaser information is compiled with radar and lightning data and the project is intended to eventually expand to a standardized open access database covering future events. While the wind measurements from the mobile radars are considered reliable, NWS policy for determining EF-ratings is based on surveys of ground damage. EL RENO, Okla. (AP) — A likely tornado killed at least two people as it destroyed a motel, roared through a nearby mobile home park and caused significant damage in the Oklahoma City area, officials said Sunday. [51] Residents left homeless were provided with temporary housing constructed from shipping containers. ... Officially, the widest tornado on record is the El Reno, Oklahoma tornado of May 31, 2013 with a width of 2.6 miles (4.2 km) at its peak. [41], A team of scientists and veteran chasers embarked on a crowd-sourcing survey project to gather storm chaser information, including video and photographic recordings and GPS logs, to piece together precisely what happened. Upon crossing Interstate 40, the tornado dissipated around 6:43 p.m. CDT (2343 UTC), after tracking for 16.2 miles (26.1 km), it avoided affecting the more densely populated areas near and within the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. [47][49], On June 1, the American Red Cross set up a shelter at the Redlands Community College in El Reno for victims of the storm.