Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 152

April 26, 2026Benton County, Washington County, Arkansas; 19 counties in Oklahoma

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 26, 2026, 5:15 PM CDT for Benton County, Washington County, Arkansas; 19 counties in Oklahoma. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 26, 2026, 5:15 PM CDT (22:15 UTC)
Expired
Apr 27, 2026, 12:00 AM CDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
3 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 21 counties

Benton County, AR, Washington County, AR, Adair County, OK, Cherokee County, OK, Craig County, OK, Creek County, OK, Delaware County, OK, Garfield County, OK, Grant County, OK, Kay County, OK, Mayes County, OK, Noble County, OK, Nowata County, OK, Osage County, OK, Ottawa County, OK, Pawnee County, OK, Payne County, OK, Rogers County, OK, Tulsa County, OK, Wagoner County, OK, Washington County, OK

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 53 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:19 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
60%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
40%
Ten or more severe wind reports
60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
60%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
95%

Warnings issued inside it

7 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 26, 7:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNKay21 min
Apr 26, 7:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAOsage50 min
Apr 26, 7:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAOsage52 min
Apr 26, 7:50 PM CDTTornado WarningTSAOsage55 min
Apr 26, 7:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNNoble19 min
Apr 26, 7:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAPawnee21 min
Apr 26, 8:41 PM CDTTornado WarningTSAOsage64 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 186 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2026-04-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 5 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2026-04-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 195 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-295 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1183 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
195 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
203 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 25, 7:43 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Washington2 hr
Apr 25, 8:49 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClark, Garland, Hot Spring, Montgomery, Pike, Polk and 2 more116 min
Apr 25, 9:46 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCalhoun, Columbia, Hempstead, Lafayette, Little River, Miller and 4 more119 min
Apr 25, 10:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBradley, Calhoun, Clark, Cleveland, Columbia, Dallas and 19 more8 hr
Apr 25, 11:42 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCalhoun, Columbia, Hempstead, Lafayette, Little River, Miller and 3 more2 hr
Apr 26, 1:31 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCColumbia, Lafayette, Union89 min
Apr 25, 8:05 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Garfield, Grant, Major, Woods, Woodward85 min
Apr 25, 8:27 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Carter, Coal, Garvin, Johnston, Marshall and 3 more2 hr
Apr 26, 1:56 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBlaine, Canadian, Creek, Garfield, Grant, Hughes and 9 more64 min
Apr 26, 3:25 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCComanche, Cotton2 hr
Apr 26, 3:55 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCCaddo, Carter, Comanche, Cotton, Garvin, Grady and 6 more6 hr
Apr 26, 5:00 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Creek, Garfield, Grant, Kay, Kingfisher and 12 more2 hr
Apr 26, 5:31 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCotton, Jefferson89 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2026Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2026Every tornado watch in 2026

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.