page_title: 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak
section_title: Cimarron City–Mulhall–Perry, Oklahoma
hierarchical_section_title: 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak / Notable tornadoes / Cimarron City–Mulhall–Perry, Oklahoma
context_page_description: The 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak was a significant tornado outbreak that affected much of the Central and parts of the Eastern United States, with the highest record-breaking wind speeds of 302 ± 22 mph. During this week-long event, 154 tornadoes touched down, more than half of them on May 3 and 4 when activity reached its peak over Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, and Arkansas.
  The most significant tornado first touched down southwest of Chickasha, Oklahoma, and became an F5 before dissipating near Midwest City. The tornado tore through southern and eastern parts of Oklahoma City and its suburbs of Bridge Creek, Moore, Del City, Tinker Air Force Base and Midwest City, killing 36 people, destroying more than 8,000 homes, and causing $1.5 billion in damage. With a total of 72 tornadoes, it was the most prolific tornado outbreak in Oklahoma history, although not the deadliest.
context_section_description: Late in the evening on May 3 at 9:25 p.m. CDT, a destructive tornado touched down 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Cimarron City in Logan County, Oklahoma, eventually hitting the town of Mulhall, located north of Guthrie. This wedge tornado, which tracked a 35-mile (56 km) path, was very wide and at times exceeded one mile (1.6 km) in width. According to storm chasing meteorologist Roger Edwards, it may have been as violent or more than the F5 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado (however, it was officially rated as an F4).
  A Doppler On Wheels (DOW) mobile radar observed this tornado as it crossed Mulhall. The DOW documented the largest-ever-observed core flow circulation with a distance of 1,600 m (5,200 ft) between peak velocities on either side of the tornado, and a roughly 7 km (4.3 mi) width of peak wind gusts exceeding 43 m/s (96 mph), making the Mulhall tornado the largest tornado ever measured quantitatively. The DOW measured a complex multi-vortex structure, with several vortices containing winds of up to 115 m/s (260 mph) rotating around the tornado. The 3D structure of the tornado has been analyzed in a 2005 article in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences by Wen-Chau Lee and Joshua Wurman. The tornado severely damaged or destroyed approximately 60–70% of the 130 homes in Mulhall, destroying the Mulhall/Orlando Elementary School and toppling the city's water tower.
  After the tornado dissipated at approximately 10:45 p.m. CDT in southeastern Noble County, 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Perry, many of the same areas of Logan County struck by the Mulhall tornado were hit again by an F3 tornado produced by a separate supercell that touched down 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of Crescent at 11:33 p.m. CDT. Damage caused by this tornado was indistinguishable from damage caused by the earlier F4 tornado. 25 homes were destroyed and 30 others were damaged near Crescent, with much of the damage believed to have been caused by both tornadoes.
caption: Tornado near Minco.
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