Vittorio's Voyages: 5/16/2015 Elmer/Tipton EF2 Tornado

Saturday was a rather exciting day for the newbies on Trip 2. Not only did they get to see their first tornado, it just happened to be an EF2 wedge tornado that we watched for 30+ min. and tracked over 30 miles.

Here is the preliminary damage survey report from the local National Weather Service office in Norman, OK:

934 PM CDT SUN MAY 17 2015

...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 5/16/15 TORNADO EVENT

.ELMER-ODELL-TIPTON-SNYDER TORNADO...

RATING:                 EF-2
ESTIMATED PEAK WIND:    125 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/:  35 MILES
PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/:   TO BE DETERMINED
FATALITIES:             0
INJURIES:               0 KNOWN

START DATE:             MAY 16 2015
START TIME:             APPROX 535 PM CDT
START LOCATION:         6 SW ELMER / JACKSON COUNTY / OK
START LAT/LON:          34.42 / -99.42

END DATE:               MAY 16 2015
END TIME:               APPROX 645 PM CDT
END LOCATION:           APPROX 3 E SNYDER / KIOWA COUNTY / OK
END LAT/LON:            34.66 / -98.90

SURVEY_SUMMARY: INFORMATION ABOUT THIS TORNADO IS STILL VERY
PRELIMINARY. A LARGE MULTIPLE VORTEX TORNADO DEVELOPED IN
SOUTHERN JACKSON COUNTY OKLAHOMA SOUTHWEST OF ELMER OKLAHOMA AND
NORTH OF ODELL TEXAS... AND MOVED NORTHEAST THROUGH THE FAR
NORTHERN PORTION OF WILBARGER COUNTY TEXAS... THEN BACK INTO
JACKSON COUNTY OKLAHOMA SOUTHEAST OF ELMER. THE TORNADO CONTINUED
NORTHEAST MOVING THROUGH TILLMAN COUNTY FROM WEST OF TIPTON TO
SOUTHWEST OF SNYDER... THEN CONTINUED IN KIOWA COUNTY FROM SOUTHWEST
OF SNYDER TO EAST OF SNYDER. THE DISSIPATION POINT OF THE TORNADO
HAS NOT BEEN DETERMINED YET. THE MOST INTENSE DAMAGE FOUND SO FAR
IS CONSISTENT WITH AN EF2 TORNADO.

.CLEO SPRINGS TORNADO...

RATING:                 EF-1
ESTIMATED PEAK WIND:    105 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/:  12 MILES
PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/:   50 YARDS
FATALITIES:             0
INJURIES:               0 KNOWN

START DATE:             MAY 16 2015
START TIME:             622 PM CDT
START LOCATION:         5.5 NW FAIRVIEW / MAJOR COUNTY / OK
START LAT/LON:          36.32 / -98.56

END DATE:               MAY 16 2015
END TIME:               642 PM CDT
END LOCATION:           4 NNE CLEO SPRINGS / MAJOR COUNTY / OK
END LAT/LON:            36.46 / -98.42

*SURVEY_SUMMARY: A TORNADO DEVELOPED ABOUT 5.5 MILES NORTHWEST
OF FAIRVIEW IN MAJOR COUNTY AND MOVED NORTHEAST TO 4 MILES NORTH-
NORTHEAST OF CLEO SPRINGS JUST EAST OF HIGHWAY 8 AND SOUTH OF THE
ALFALFA COUNTY LINE. THE TORNADO PASSED ACROSS THE NORTHWEST
CORNER OF CLEO SPRINGS WITH ADDITIONAL DAMAGE IN CLEO SPRINGS
CAUSED BY ADJACENT THUNDERSTORM WINDS. THUNDERSTORM WIND DAMAGE
CONTINUED NORTHEAST FROM WHERE THE TORNADO DISSIPATED TO AREAS
NEAR AND SOUTHWEST OF HELENA IN ALFALFA COUNTY.

EF SCALE: THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES
TORNADOES INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES.

EF0...WEAK......65 TO 85 MPH
EF1...WEAK......86 TO 110 MPH
EF2...STRONG....111 TO 135 MPH
EF3...STRONG....136 TO 165 MPH
EF4...VIOLENT...166 TO 200 MPH
EF5...VIOLENT...>200 MPH