preview

Moore Tornado Case Study

Decent Essays

The 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado (locally referred to as the May 3 tornado) was an extremely powerful F5 tornado in which the highest wind speeds ever measured globally, 301 miles per hour (484 km/h), were recorded by a Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radar. The tornado devastated southern portions of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, along with surrounding suburbs and towns during the early evening of May 3, 1999. Throughout its 85-minute existence, the tornado covered 38 miles (61 km), destroying thousands of homes, killing 36 people (plus an additional five indirectly), and leaving US$1 billion in damage,[3] ranking it as the fifth-costliest on record, not accounting for inflation.[4]

The tornado first touched down at 6:23 p.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT) in Grady County, roughly two miles (3.2 km) south-southwest of Amber. …show more content…

CDT as wind shear intensified over the region (as confirmed by an unscheduled balloon sounding flight conducted by the NWS Norman office), creating a highly unstable atmosphere. The sounding balloon recorded winds blowing southwesterly (at 20 mph (17 kn) and 50 mph (43 kn), respectively) at the surface and at the 12,000-foot (3,700 m) level, southerly winds of 40 mph (35 kn) at 12,000 feet (3,700 m) and westerly winds of 20 mph (17 kn) at 20,000 feet (6,100 m); it also indicated that a capping inversion over the region was weakening in southwestern Oklahoma and north Texas; with the warm air above the surface cooling down, this allowed warm air at the surface the chance to rise and potentially create thunderstorms.[7][8] Although cirrus clouds − a bank of which had developed in west Texas and overspread portions of Oklahoma later in the morning − were present through much of the day, an area of clearing skies over western north Texas and southwestern Oklahoma early that afternoon allowed for the sun to heat up the moisture-laden region, creating significant atmospheric

Get Access