How many people died in the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak?
36
The 3 May 1999 Oklahoma City tornado was the deadliest in the United States in over 20 years, with 36 direct fatalities. To understand how this event fits into the historical context, the record of tornado deaths in the United States has been examined.
What caused the 1999 Oklahoma tornado?
The outbreak was caused by a vigorous upper-level trough that moved into the Central and Southern Plains states on the morning of May 3. That morning, low stratus clouds overspread much of Oklahoma, with clear skies along and west of a dry line located from Gage to Childress, Texas.
How long did the 1999 Oklahoma tornado last?
1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado
| F5 tornado | |
|---|---|
| Duration | 1 hour, 25 minutes |
| Dissipated | May 3, 1999, 7:48 pm. CDT (UTC−05:00) |
| Highest winds | 134.5 ± 10 m/s (301 ± 22 mph) (as measured by mobile Doppler radar) |
| Max. rating1 | F5 tornado |
How wide was the May 3 1999 tornado?
The width of the tornado was given a conservative estimate of 2.6 miles, a new official record for the widest U.S. tornado, beating the previous record of 2.5 miles near Hallam, Nebraska, on May 22, 2004.
Is a F6 tornado possible?
There is no such thing as an F6 tornado, even though Ted Fujita plotted out F6-level winds. The Fujita scale, as used for rating tornados, only goes up to F5. Even if a tornado had F6-level winds, near ground level, which is *very* unlikely, if not impossible, it would only be rated F5.
How many tornadoes hit Central Oklahoma in 2003?
There were only two tornadoes in central Oklahoma on May 8, 2003. Unfortunately, one of those was an F4 tornado that tracked over some of the same areas heavily damaged by the more infamous May 3, 1999 tornado in Moore and the south Oklahoma City metro area.
Is there a KML file of the 1999 Oklahoma tornadoes?
GIS Users: A KML file depicting the damage paths for tornadoes that occurred in central Oklahoma on May 3, 1999 is available. The outlines and areas of the damage paths are color coded with relation to the parent supercell that spawned each tornado.
What is the strongest tornado in Oklahoma History?
The strongest tornado, rated a maximum F-5 on the Fujita Tornado Scale, tracked for nearly an hour and a half along a 38-mile path from Chickasha through south Oklahoma City and the suburbs of Bridge Creek, Newcastle, Moore, Midwest City and Del City.
Where were the tornadoes in May 1999?
Additional tornadoes also hit areas in south central Kansas, eastern Oklahoma and northern Texas, with over 70 tornadoes being observed across the region, and some tornadoes occurring the during the morning and early afternoon hours of May 4, 1999.