Deadly Oklahoma tornado captured from space

A week ago, a deadly tornado hit the city of Moore, Oklahoma, taking the lives of 24 people, injuring hundreds and leaving a path of devastation – whole communities flattened.

The tornado has been classified as the most powerful possible, known as an EF-5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. Having assessed the damage from the tornado, NOAA estimated that winds of 200-210mph occurred.

Remaining on the ground for around 40 minutes, the 1.3 mile wide twister carved a 17 mile path of destruction across the landscape, destroying almost everything in its path.

Oklahoma, along with much of the US Plains, is no stranger to tornados, lying in the infamous tornado alley, where hundreds form each year.

They are spawned by rotating supercell thunderstorms that are caused by the collision of warm, humid air from the south and cold, dry air to the east of the Rocky mountains.

Satellite images

While the tornado itself can’t be seen on the satellite images from space, the supercell thunderstorms that produce them can be.

In the video below from NOAA (best viewed in HD), you can see how a line of normal cumulus clouds suddenly explode into huge storms – spreading out quickly as air violently rises up into the atmosphere and energy is released.

It is beneath and within these storms that the air starts to rotate as air at different heights in the atmosphere move in varying directions.

The line of storms clouds is so visible from space, that it can even be seen on a satellite image of the whole planet.

This zoomed in still image shows the supercell thunderstorm that was responsible for spawning the deadly Moore tornado, with its path marked by the red line.

Radar images

When meteorologists are watching severe thunderstorms that have the potential to spawn a tornado, they look for a hook shape and brighter colours in the radar echoes.

The hook shape suggests that the air is starting to rotate and the brighter colours indicate that the rain (or hail) is increasing in intensity – an indication that the storm is becoming even more severe.

If you look at the three images below, you can see how both of these changes took places over time with the Moore tornado. It was these tell-tale signs that allowed the National Weather Service to warn residents 16 minutes before the tornado’s arrival.

On the ground – before and after

As part of its crisis response scheme, Google has made publicly available some highly detailed satellite imagery that shows the city of Moore before and after the devastating tornado hit.

Before

After

What is particularly interesting when comparing the two images above, it that there is a clear difference between the places hit by the tornado and those that weren’t. In the areas that lay within the tornado’s path, the devastation was near total.

I’ll be keeping an eye on future potential severe weather outbreaks in the US and will post updates on Twitter – @liamdutton

Maps and images courtesy of Google, NASA and NOAA