rare anticyclonic tornado
Radar image over Sulphur, Oklahoma on Monday 9th May

A closer look at the anticyclonic tornado track


Most tornadoes spin counter-clockwise, but during Monday's tornado outbreak, one tornado was spinning clockwise or backwards.

Anticyclonic tornadoes are very, very rare, but a tornado near Roff, Oklahoma, was on the ground for almost 13 miles.

An anticyclonic twister developed about 6 miles north-northwest of Sulphur and moved northeast. The tornado has been rated as an EF1 tornado with winds up to 110 mph.

The tornado was likely wrapped in precipitation and not very visible. At the same time, a larger EF-3 tornado was on the ground, moving to the east, about 6 miles to the west of the anticyclonic tornado. One could even consider this rare tornado as it satellite tornado to moved around the larger tornadic circulation.

Click on the related content to see what both tornadoes looked like with Doppler radar imagery.

rare anti-cyclonic tornado in Oklahoma
Velocity image showing anti-cyclonic tornado from Monday