1999 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak - The Bridge Creek-Moore F5

The Bridge Creek-Moore F5

At approximately 3:30 p.m. CDT, the first thunderstorm of the outbreak began forming in Tillman County in southwestern Oklahoma; a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for this storm by the NWS Norman Weather Forecast Office at 4:15 p.m. CDT. The storm quickly developed supercell characteristics and began exhibiting potentially tornadic rotation, resulting in the NWS issuing the first tornado warning of the event for Comanche, Caddo and Grady counties 22 minutes later at 4:50 p.m. CDT.

The first tornado from this supercell touched down 7 miles (11 km) east-northeast of Medicine Park at 4:51 p.m. CDT; it produced four additional tornadoes as it tracked northeast into Caddo County, the strongest of which (rated as an F3) touched down 2 miles (3.2 km) west-southwest of Laverty and dissipated 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west-northwest of downtown Chickasha.

The storm produced the most significant tornado of the outbreak touched down just southwest of the Grady County community of Amber, Oklahoma at 6:23 p.m. CDT and headed northeast, parallel to Interstate 44, just after another tornado had passed over the airport in Chickasha. The storm continued moving northeast, destroying the community of Bridge Creek and crossing I-44 just north of Newcastle. The tornado then crossed the Canadian River, passing into far southern Oklahoma City. As it passed over Bridge Creek, around 6:54 p.m., a Doppler On Wheels (DOW: Wurman et al. 1997, Wurman 2001) mobile Doppler weather radar detected winds of 301 mph (484 km/h), ±20 mph inside the tornado at a height of 32 m AGL (Wurman et al. 2007). These winds, however, occurred above the ground, and winds at the surface may not have been quite this intense. The tornado continued on into Moore and then passed over the intersection of Shields Boulevard and Interstate 35 and back into Oklahoma City, crossing Interstate 240 near Bryant Avenue. The storm then turned more northerly, striking parts of Del City and Tinker Air Force Base near Sooner Road as an F4 before diminishing over Midwest City and finally lifting near the intersection of Reno Avenue and Woodcrest Drive.