F5Oklahoma

1999 Bridge Creek–Moore Tornado

May 3, 1999 · 6:23 p.m. CDT

Deaths

Injuries

583

Path length

38 mi

Peak wind

301 mph

Damage

$1.0B

Fast Facts

Date: May 3, 1999
Time (local): 6:23 p.m. CDT
Fujita Rating: F5
Deaths: 36 direct (plus 5 indirect)
Injuries: 583
Peak wind: 301 ± 20 mph (Doppler on Wheels)
Path length: 38 miles (37.0 mi logged by NOAA SPC)
Maximum width: ~1 mile / 1,760 yards (1,430 yds per SPC)
Time on ground: ~85 minutes
Damage: $1.0 billion (1999 USD) — first billion-dollar tornado
Notable: Highest wind speed ever recorded near Earth’s surface

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center; NWS post-event damage survey.

Path Map

Hover or tap any marker for details

Interactive map requires JavaScript. The tornado tracked from 35.130°N, -97.850°W to 35.450°N, -97.430°W.

Touchdown

Significant damage point

Dissipation

The Event

May 3, 1999 produced the largest tornado outbreak in Oklahoma since state records began in 1950. Our copy of the NOAA Storm Prediction Center database logs 58 Oklahoma tornadoes on May 3 alone; NWS Norman counts 72 across the full May 3–4 event. One of them stood apart from everything else. The tornado now known as the Bridge Creek–Moore tornado (SPC storm number A9) touched down around 6:23 p.m. CDT near Amber in Grady County, southwest of Oklahoma City. It rapidly grew violent as it tracked northeast toward the metro, and over the next roughly 85 minutes it carved a path our copy of the NOAA Storm Prediction Center database logs at 37 miles long — commonly rounded to 38 — and up to a mile wide.

The 300-mph Wind Measurement

As the tornado churned through Bridge Creek, a University of Oklahoma research team led by Josh Wurman had a truck-mounted "Doppler on Wheels" (DOW) radar pointed directly into it. At about 6:54 p.m., roughly 100 feet above the ground, the radar clocked winds of 301 ± 20 mph — the highest wind speed ever recorded near Earth's surface. That number comes with important nuance, and the honest version is worth stating plainly. NWS Norman's own post-event write-up cited a 318 mph reading that was, at the time, "still in the process of being reviewed scientifically." A 2021 reanalysis of the same radar data revised the peak as high as 321 mph. The figures disagree at the margins, but every serious estimate puts the maximum well above 300 mph — a value that still stands as the fastest wind ever measured on the planet.

Path and Impact

The heaviest loss of life came early, in Bridge Creek, where about a dozen people were killed and entire neighborhoods — including mobile-home communities with no basements or shelters — were wiped from their foundations. The tornado then crossed into Newcastle, jumped the Canadian River, and slammed into the south Oklahoma City suburbs. In Moore it followed the Interstate 35 and Interstate 44 corridors, tearing through subdivision after subdivision before moving into Del City and Midwest City near Tinker Air Force Base and finally lifting around 7:48 p.m. In all it killed 36 people directly, injured 583, and caused about $1 billion in damage in 1999 dollars (roughly $1.9 billion today) — the first tornado in history to exceed a billion dollars in losses, and the costliest on record at the time. NWS surveys tallied more than 8,000 homes and over 1,000 apartment units damaged or destroyed.

The First Tornado Emergency

As the tornado bore down on a metro area of more than a million people, forecasters at NWS Norman faced a communication problem: an ordinary tornado warning did not capture how bad this was about to be. So they wrote something new. The "Tornado Emergency" issued for the Oklahoma City metro that evening was, in the office's own words, "the first warning of its kind" — language meant to grab attention and signal that this event "was something different than normal." That improvised wording outlived the storm. The Tornado Emergency is now a formal, nationally used NWS product reserved for confirmed, violent tornadoes threatening populated areas — invoked for Joplin in 2011, for Moore again in 2013, and for dozens of other high-end events since. It is one of the most consequential legacies of May 3, 1999.

In Context: Oklahoma’s F5 History

Oklahoma sits in the heart of Tornado Alley, but truly top-rated tornadoes are still rare there. Our SPC database records only eight F5 or EF5 tornadoes in the state across the entire period from 1950 to today. The Bridge Creek–Moore tornado was the deadliest single tornado to strike Oklahoma since the 1947 Woodward tornado — its 36 deaths exceed even the 2013 Moore EF5 (24) that hit essentially the same ground fourteen years later. The two Moore-area giants bracket a remarkable local run: between 1998 and 2015, Moore or its immediate surroundings were hit by five significant (F3 or stronger) tornadoes. Meteorologists have studied the cluster closely and treat it as a statistical quirk of central Oklahoma's spring supercell climatology rather than any geographic magnet — but for the people who live there, the 1999 and 2013 events remain the two by which every other storm is measured.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people died in the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado?

The F5 tornado killed 36 people directly, with five more deaths attributed indirectly, and injured 583. It was the deadliest single tornado in Oklahoma since the 1947 Woodward tornado and remains one of only eight F5/EF5 tornadoes recorded in the state since 1950, according to NOAA Storm Prediction Center data.

What was the wind speed of the 1999 Moore tornado?

A Doppler on Wheels mobile radar measured winds of 301 ± 20 mph about 100 feet above the ground near Bridge Creek — the highest wind speed ever recorded near Earth’s surface. NWS Norman initially cited a 318 mph reading still under scientific review, and a 2021 reanalysis of the radar data put the peak as high as 321 mph. All figures place it above 300 mph.

Was the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado an F5 or EF5?

It was rated F5 on the original Fujita scale, which was in use until early 2007 when the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale replaced it. NWS surveyors called it a "minimal F5." The 2013 Moore tornado that hit the same area was rated EF5 under the newer scale.

How is the 1999 Moore tornado different from the 2013 Moore tornado?

Both were violent, top-rated tornadoes that struck essentially the same Oklahoma City suburbs. The 1999 storm had far higher measured winds (301+ mph vs. an estimated 210 mph in 2013), a much longer 38-mile path (14 miles in 2013), and killed more people (36 vs. 24). The 2013 tornado was wider at peak intensity and struck a more densely developed area, and is best known for the deaths of seven children at Plaza Towers Elementary.

What was the first "tornado emergency" ever issued?

The NWS Norman forecast office issued the first-ever "Tornado Emergency" for the Oklahoma City metro on the evening of May 3, 1999, as the Bridge Creek–Moore tornado bore down on the city. Forecasters coined the wording to signal a threat far beyond a routine tornado warning. It has since become standard NWS practice for the most dangerous, populated-area tornadoes.