2013 Moore tornado

The 2013 Moore tornado was a large and extremely violent <a href="/facts/Enhanced_Fujita_scale/UYTlbwyz">EF5</a> <a href="/facts/Tornado/HSGNQzHa">tornado</a> that ravaged <a href="/facts/Moore%2c_Oklahoma/w6P6AuYN">Moore, Oklahoma</a>, and adjacent areas on the afternoon of May 20, 2013, with peak winds estimated at 200–210 miles per hour (320–340 km/h), killing 24 people (plus two indirect fatalities) and injuring 212 others. The tornado was part of <a href="/facts/Tornado_outbreak_of_May_18%25E2%2580%259321%2c_2013/Fx2Fh6kW">a larger outbreak</a> from a slow-moving weather system that had produced several other tornadoes across the <a href="/facts/Great_Plains/LWPW30WU">Great Plains</a> over the previous two days, including five that had struck portions of <a href="/facts/Central_Oklahoma/t3vkaatR">Central Oklahoma</a> the day prior on May 19. The tornado, along with the 2011 <a href="/facts/2011_Hackleburg%25E2%2580%2593Phil_Campbell_tornado/PtAn0AwP">Hackleburg–Phil Campbell</a> and <a href="/facts/2011_El_Reno%25E2%2580%2593Piedmont_tornado/DGe2j2tH">El Reno–Piedmont tornadoes</a>, has the highest rated official windspeed on the Enhanced Fujita scale, if the upper range is considered.
The tornado touched down just northwest of <a href="/facts/Newcastle%2c_Oklahoma/nKLWmxum">Newcastle</a> at 2:56 p.m. <a href="/facts/Central_Time_Zone/5UBgAgqS">CDT</a> (19:56 <a href="/facts/Coordinated_Universal_Time/2EnjfSyu">UTC</a>), and quickly became violent, persisting for 39 minutes on a 13.85-mile (22.3 km) path through a heavily populated section of Moore, causing catastrophic damage of EF4 to EF5 intensity, before dissipating at 3:35 p.m. CDT (20:35 UTC) outside of Moore. The tornado was over one mile (1.6 km) across at its peak width.: 13  The 2013 Moore tornado followed a roughly similar track to the deadlier <a href="/facts/1999_Bridge_Creek%25E2%2580%2593Moore_tornado/gglnnsK8">1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado</a>, which was rated F5; neither of the stricken schools in the area had acquired purpose-built <a href="/facts/Safe_room/m8z5gx7Y">storm shelters</a> in the intervening years.
The tornado caused catastrophic damage around the city of Moore, with 1,150 homes destroyed as a result. Damage estimates ranged up to $2 billion, making it the costliest tornado since the <a href="/facts/Joplin_tornado/f0cbok98">Joplin EF5 tornado</a> in 2011. Taking a path through the heart of Moore, an estimated 13,500 people were directly affected by the tornado. Large swaths of the city were completely destroyed and unofficial estimates placed the number of severely damaged or destroyed buildings at 1,500 with another 4,000 affected. In contrast to the violent nature of the tornado, the death toll was relatively low. The tornado was ranked as the ninth-deadliest tornado in the state's history. The lack of further fatalities was attributed to a 16-minute lead time on the Moore tornado given by the <a href="/facts/National_Weather_Service_Norman%2c_Oklahoma/BItpTbBH">National Weather Service forecast office in Norman</a>. Following the tornado, President <a href="/facts/Barack_Obama/76wUMgL1">Barack Obama</a> declared a major disaster in Moore, ordering federal aid to the city, allowing recovery efforts to begin. The city would later adapt stronger building codes in response to the tornado, stricter than what is usually required in the United States. As of 2025, this tornado is the most recent to be rated EF5 officially before the <a href="/facts/EF5_drought/geDxpzFa">EF5 drought</a>.

2013 Moore tornado open-in-new

2013 Moore tornado