Description

The 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado was a large, long-lived, and exceptionally powerful F5 tornado in which the highest tornado wind speed ever measured with a doppler radar was recorded at 321 miles per hour (517 km/h) by a Doppler on Wheels. One of the strongest tornadoes ever recorded to affect a metropolitan area, the tornado devastated southern portions of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma as well as surrounding municipalities to the south and southwest of the city during the early evening of Monday, May 3, 1999. The tornado covered 38 miles (61 km) during its 85-minute existence, destroying thousands of homes, killing 36 people, and leaving US$1 billion in damage, ranking it as the fifth-costliest on record not accounting for inflation. Its severity prompted the first-ever use of the tornado emergency statement by the National Weather Service.