1948 Tinker Air Force Base tornadoes
| F3 tornado | |
|---|---|
Damage to United States Air Force bombers from the March 20, 1948, tornado
|
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| Formed | March 20, 1948, and March 25, 1948 |
| Max rating1 | F3 tornado |
| Damage | $16 million (1948) ($159 million 2017) |
| Casualties | Several injuries |
| Areas affected | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| 1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale | |
The 1948 Tinker Air Force Base tornadoes were two tornadoes which struck Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on March 20 and 25, 1948. Both are estimated to have been equivalent to F3 in intensity on the modern Fujita scale of tornado intensity, which was not devised until 1971. The March 20 tornado was the costliest tornado in Oklahoma history at the time. On March 25, meteorologists at the base noticed the extreme similarity between the weather conditions of that day and March 20, and later in the day issued a "tornado forecast", which was verified when a tornado struck the base that evening. This was the first official tornado forecast, as well as the first successful tornado forecast, in recorded history.
Weather forecasting was still crude and prone to large errors in the era before weather satellites and computer modeling. Thunderstorms were not even in the forecast for the evening of March 20. However, around 9:30 pm storms were reported about 20 miles (32 km) to the southwest, and at 9:52 a tornado was sighted near Will Rogers Airport 7 miles (11 km) away, along with a 92-mile-per-hour (148 km/h) wind gust, moving northeast towards the base.
At 10:00, the tornado reached the southwest corner of the base. Illuminated by nearly constant lightning, the tornado was highly visible as it bisected the base, tossing around planes which were parked in the open. The control tower reported a 78-mile-per-hour (126 km/h) wind gust before the windows shattered, injuring several personnel with flying glass. The tornado dissipated at the northeast corner of the base.
The tornado missed most structures on the base, but the damage to expensive military aircraft was substantial. The total damage cost came to around $10 million, or $100 million in 2017 United States dollars. This was the most damaging tornado in Oklahoma up to that date.
In the aftermath of the first tornado, an official inquiry was conducted into the failure to predict the destructive tornado. Air Force investigators came to the conclusion that "due to the nature of the storm it was not forecastable given the present state of the art." They also made recommendations that the meteorological community determine a tornado warning system for the public, as well as a protocol for protecting life and property at military bases.
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