Rick Smith, the warning coordination meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Norma, Okla. office, said that the tornado that devastated suburban Oklahoma City on Monday spanned about forty minutes.
Smith said at a Tuesday afternoon press briefing that the NWS issued its first tornado warning at 2:40 p.m. local time and that the tornado began at approximately 2:56 p.m. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the average lead-time for tornadoes is 13 minutes.
Smith said that the tornado concluded at about 3:36 p.m. on Monday.
