Nature
The 2013 El Reno tornado struck rural central Oklahoma on the evening of May 31, 2013, becoming the widest tornado ever reliably recorded at 2.6 miles across and one of the strongest ever measured. Rain-wrapped, multiple-vortex, and erratic, it tracked 16.2 miles in about 40 minutes, narrowly missing denser parts of the Oklahoma City area. Though officially rated EF3 because its most intense winds hit few structures, radar later found peak winds exceeding 313 mph, with one study estimating 336 mph. It killed eight people, including storm chasers Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young, and became a defining case for tornado science, warning, and public safety.
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Union City, Oklahoma · United States
