Widest tornado in U.S. history hit Oklahoma on Friday

The tornado that hit El Reno, OK last Friday has been rated at EF-5 and also has been rated with a maximum width of 2.6 miles. This is the widest tornado in U.S. history. This is one of the reasons that traffic and storm chasers had so much trouble getting away from the tornado. The maximum wind speed of the tornado was 295 mph.

This is the second EF-5 tornado to hit the Oklahoma City area during May.

This is the second EF-5 tornado to hit El Reno in 25 months.

El Reno is 28 miles from downtown Oklahoma City.

The early report from the NWS in Oklahoma City lists the following data......
METEOROLOGISTS WITH THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND RESEARCHERS FROM
THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE INFORMATION
RELATED TO THE MAY 31 EL RENO TORNADO.

WITH THIS INVESTIGATION... THE TORNADO HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO AN EF5
TORNADO BASED ON VELOCITY DATA FROM THE RESEARCH MOBILE RADAR DATA
FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA RAXPOL RADAR. IN ADDITION... THE
WIDTH OF TORNADO WAS MEASURED BY THE MOBILE RADAR DATA TO BE 2.6
MILES AFTER THE TORNADO PASSED EAST OF US HIGHWAY 81 SOUTH OF EL
RENO. THIS WIDTH IS THE WIDTH OF THE TORNADO ITSELF AND DOES NOT
INCLUDE THE DAMAGING STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS NEAR THE TORNADO AS
DETERMINED BY THE HIGH-RESOLUTION MOBILE RADAR DATA. THE 2.6 MILE
TORNADO PATH WIDTH IS BELIEVED TO BE THE WIDEST TORNADO ON RECORD
IN THE UNITED STATES.

.EL RENO TORNADO

RATING:                  EF5
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/:   16.2 MILES
PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/:    2.6 MILES

The tornado that hit Moore was 1.3 miles wide with top winds of 210 mph.

Here is a list of the EF-5 tornadoes in the U.S. during the last 5 years.
2013  El Reno, OK
2013  Moore, OK
2011  Guthrie-El Reno, OK
2011  Joplin, MO
2011  Rainsville, AL
2011  Smithsville, MS
2011  Hackleburg, AL
2011  Philadelphia, MS
2008  Parkersburg, IA

That's 9 EF-5 tornadoes in a 5 year period.
In the 5 years prior to that there were 2 EF-5 tornadoes.
From June 1999 to May 2007 there were no EF-5 tornadoes in the U.S.