"A tornado that swept through Oklahoma on Friday was the widest tornado in American history, the National Weather Service said Tuesday."

"The El Reno, Okla., tornado scraped out a damage path up to 2.6 miles wide and 16.2 miles long, a swath at points wider and longer than Manhattan. The storm broke the record held by a 2.5-mile-wide Hallam, Neb., twister.

"It was amazing and something that's extremely rare," Howard Bluestein, professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, said of the storm's strength - which now presents a puzzle for researchers whose solution could help mean the difference between life and death.

The human aftermath left by Friday's twister was painfully apparent, with at least 18 people killed in the latest massive tornado to carve through Oklahoma this spring."

Matt Pearce reports for the Los Angeles Times June 4, 2013. [2]