May 3, 1999 Okarche Tornado
"The Forgotten Storm"
Okarche, Oklahoma straddles the Kingfisher/Canadian County line - just northwest of Oklahoma City. The town population hovers around 1,100. Incorporated in 1905, it has seen its fair share of severe weather. Large hail and damaging winds have occurred many times; however, tornadoes in town are a rarity. This should come as no surprise with the town only covering less than one square mile.
The last significant damage from a tornado occurred on March 15, 1942. In Okarche, one home and several barns were destroyed when a tornado moved from just southwest of town - across the west side of town - and ended about five miles east of Kingfisher.
When you mention May 3, 1999 to anyone that is "weatherwise" - they will immediately think of the outbreak of tornadoes that occurred in Oklahoma that day. Other tornadoes occurred in Kansas, Texas and Tennessee but the highest concentration of tornadoes was in central Oklahoma. To a greater extent most people will think about the F5 tornado that tracked through the Oklahoma City metro area.
Somewhat hidden and definitely less noticed that day was a supercell storm that produced a significant tornado just west of Okarche. Staying in rural areas, and overshadowed by the monster entering Oklahoma City at the time, this tornado became just another on the list that day. Had it occurred about a mile to the east, Okarche would have joined the long list of cities and towns impacted. Video of the tornado shows that it would likely have been capable of producing strong or violent damage had it made a direct hit on the town.
This page is dedicated to "The Forgotten Storm". Only residents of Okarche, people that were driving nearby at the time and a couple of storm chasers observed the event. Rob Satkus - chasing for KWTV/Channel 9 in Oklahoma City - was one of the few that captured video and photos of the tornado.
The evolution of the Okarche storm was an interesting one. The most significant storm of the day - responsible for the OKC tornado - was becoming well organized in southeast Caddo County when the first echo of the storm which would produce the Okarche tornado developed. It formed along the Caddo/Washita county line just north of Carnegie around 5:34 P.M. CDT. When this echo first formed several other storms were already tracking across Canadian county to its northeast. These storms were a combination of multiple left splits sent off by what would become the OKC supercell.
By 5:55 P.M. - the OKC supercell was moving into Grady County and there were numerous storms located nearby, stretching northward for nearly 50 miles to southern Kingfisher County. The Okarche storm was first starting to show some higher reflectivity with 50+ DBZ observed near Lookeba.
At 6:17 P.M. - a storm, which may have been the product of several merging storms, increased in intensity over northern Canadian County just south of Okarche. Meanwhile, the storm that would produce the Okarche tornado had made it into the southwest corner of Canadian County looking somewhat disorganized and strung-out.
The two storms would start to merge near and southwest of Okarche around 6:31 P.M. Messy is the best way to describe the radar appearance over northern Canadian and southern Kingfisher Counties at that time. However, there were signs that an updraft of greater intensity was taking shape near Calumet, about 10 miles southwest of Okarche.
At 6:46 P.M. - radar showed a "stringy" hook like feature developing on the southwest flank of the storm now centered over Okarche. Within 15 minutes a tornado would form.
At 6:58 P.M. - the tornado developed about 1.5 miles west of Okarche and tracked north northeast for about four miles. Eyewitness accounts and a small damage path support the existence of a second weaker tornado which formed and dissipated over the west side of town. About 15 minutes after the main tornado weakened, the storm itself was hard to recognize visually.
Unlike the majority of the storms that day, which were long-track and produced tornado after tornado, this storm organized, produced and weakened fairly quickly. This may have been a testament to the environmental conditions which supported tornadoes that day - or it may just have been an accident squeezed in amongst the big-boys. Either way, it was a close call for the town of 1,100.
The radar captures below were taken from the www.cimms.ou.edu website.