Understanding Tornadoes: Formation and Types

The 2013 El Reno tornado was an extremely large, powerful, and erratic tornado[a] that occurred and hit a rural part of Central Oklahoma during the early evening of Friday, May 31, 2013. This rain-wrapped, multiple-vortex tornado was the widest tornado ever recorded, peaking at 2.6 miles across. It was part of a larger weather system that produced dozens of tornadoes over the preceding days. The tornado initially formed at 6:03 p.m. CDT (23:03 UTC) about 8.3 miles (13.4 km) west-southwest of El