2016 Sulphur Tornado Finalized Report

by The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Event Details:

Event	Tornado
-- Scale	EF3
-- Length	15.1 Miles
-- Width	1500 Yards
State	OKLAHOMA
County/Area	MURRAY
WFO	OUN
Report Source	NWS Storm Survey
NCEI Data Source	CSV
Begin Date	2016-05-09 15:34 CST-6
Begin Location	2S JOY
Begin Lat/Lon	34.565/-97.146
End Date	2016-05-09 16:13 CST-6
End Location	3NNW HICKORY
End Lat/Lon	34.593/-96.884
Deaths Direct/Indirect	0/0 (fatality details below, when available...)
Injuries Direct/Indirect	0/0
Property Damage	4.00M
Crop Damage	0.00K
Episode Narrative	With the help of an upper low, storms fired along the dryline in central Oklahoma on the 9th, with some of them becoming severe.
Event Narrative	After the Katie tornado dissipated, the storm produced another tornado that developed just west of US-77 between Wynnewood and Davis. Some tree damage was noted between the Washita River and US-77. The tornado moved about three miles through open land before damaging or destroying numerous houses and other structures along and near Palmer Road and Buel Green Road to the northwest and north of Sulphur. Through this time, the tornado grew to nearly one mile in width. Numerous houses from Meadow road to just east of US-177 received EF3 damage. Near Meadow Road and Burnside Road, cars parked near a destroyed barn were displaced about 280 yards to the east. Preliminary analysis of winds from the Doppler on Wheels mobile research radar provided by the Center for Severe Weather Research indicated approximately 218 mph (+/-) at 17 meters AGL near US-177 N of Buel Green Road, however there were no structures in the immediate vicinity of this wind maximum to give a corresponding damage rating. The tornado moved east-northeast after crossing US-177 with the path width gradually diminishing. The tornado moved along the Murray-Pontotoc County line affecting both counties for the last three miles before dissipating about 2 miles south-southwest of Roff. The center line of the tornado did move into Pontotoc County approximately three miles southwest of Roff.