4 June 2013

El Reno Oklahoma Tornado On Friday 31 May rated EF 5. Widest On Record

Posted by Dan Satterfield

The first tornado developed around 6:03 pm CDT near El Reno. This storm then moved east to southest into western and central portions of Oklahoma City, producing other tornadoes. Other storms developed to the west and moved over the same areas as the first storm. This produced significant flooding in the Oklahoma City metro. At least 23 high water rescues were conducted. At least 100,000 homes and businesses lost power after the storms had passed.

Below is an X Band Doppler/Dual Polarimetric Radar image of the El Reno tornado. You can actually see the vortex! Reflectivity is upper right and Doppler winds are lower left. Correlation Coefficient showing large amount of debris is bottom right. This image is from an experimental Doppler/ Dual Polarimetric radar at the Univ. of Oklahoma developed by Dr. Howie Bluestein (One of my professors many years ago!).