The 2013 Moore Tornado was a violent, catastrophic tornado that occurred on the afternoon of Monday May 20, 2013. The EF5 tornado, with peak winds estimated at 210 miles per hour (340 km/h), impacted Moore, Oklahoma, and adjacent areas, killing at least 24 people, including 9 children, and injuring more than 240 others. So far, experts have found that the tornado spanned 1.3 miles — the length of more than 22 football fields lined up end-to-end — carving a path of destruction 17 miles in total length. EF5 tornadoes are extremely rare, and the 2013 Moore Tornado is only the 59th tornado on record that has reached that threshold since the year 1950. Many have been calling this event the strongest storm in American history, but it is in fact not. The strongest tornado on record to-date also struck Moore, Oklahoma in 1999. It had winds recorded at 318 mph at 300 feet above the earth’s surface. At the surface, officials estimated winds were at 250 mph. NASA’s GOES-13 satellite captured images of the storm system, and the ominous timelapse video shows how the super cell clouds over Oklahoma bubbled up in dramatic formation, almost resembling an erupting volcano.
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