Hail, Beckham
- When
- May 22, 2:00 PM CST
- Where
- Beckham County
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 35.300, -99.650
Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, May 22, 1981
16 tornado, 3 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 12
- Property damage
- $33 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 19
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
Event by event
16 tornado, 3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Washita
- When
- May 22, 4:17 PM CST
- Where
- Washita County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 6.9 mi
- Path width
- 200 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 35.320, -99.000
Hail, Washita
- When
- May 22, 5:20 PM CST
- Where
- Washita County
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 35.250, -98.850
Tornado, Washita
- When
- May 22, 5:25 PM CST
- Where
- Washita County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 1 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.170, -98.850
Tornado, Washita
- When
- May 22, 6:07 PM CST
- Where
- Washita County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 2.7 mi
- Path width
- 300 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.250, -98.670
Tornado, Caddo
- When
- May 22, 6:12 PM CST
- Where
- Caddo County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 3.3 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.270, -98.630
Tornado, Custer
- When
- May 22, 6:15 PM CST
- Where
- Custer County
- Rating
- F1
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.570, -99.000
Tornado, Caddo
- When
- May 22, 6:29 PM CST
- Where
- Caddo County
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.3 mi
- Path width
- 10 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.230, -98.450
Tornado, Kiowa
- When
- May 22, 6:30 PM CST
- Where
- Kiowa County
- Rating
- F2
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.120, -98.750
Tornado, Custer
- When
- May 22, 6:30 PM CST
- Where
- Custer County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 10.4 mi
- Path width
- 200 yd
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Coordinates
- 35.550, -99.180
Tornado, Washita
- When
- May 22, 6:32 PM CST
- Where
- Washita County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 9.8 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.130, -98.730
Tornado, Caddo
- When
- May 22, 6:49 PM CST
- Where
- Caddo County
- Rating
- F4
- Path length
- 12.2 mi
- Path width
- 1,333 yd
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Coordinates
- 35.320, -98.370
Tornado, Caddo
- When
- May 22, 6:55 PM CST
- Where
- Caddo County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 5.6 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.250, -98.630
Tornado, Custer
- When
- May 22, 7:00 PM CST
- Where
- Custer County
- Rating
- F1
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.530, -99.020
Tornado, Canadian
- When
- May 22, 7:15 PM CST
- Where
- Canadian County
- Rating
- F4
- Path length
- 4.5 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Coordinates
- 35.380, -98.170
Hail, Custer
- When
- May 22, 7:31 PM CST
- Where
- Custer County
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 35.800, -98.700
Tornado, Canadian
- When
- May 22, 7:32 PM CST
- Where
- Canadian County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 2 mi
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.430, -98.000
Tornado, Custer
- When
- May 22, 7:55 PM CST
- Where
- Custer County
- Rating
- F3
- Path length
- 10.3 mi
- Path width
- 267 yd
- Injuries
- 12 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $25 million
- Coordinates
- 35.480, -99.030
Tornado, Blaine
- When
- May 22, 9:40 PM CST
- Where
- Blaine County
- Rating
- F2
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.720, -98.300
What these are
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in Oklahoma in 1981Every state in 1981This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Oklahoma, 1981
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10106456, 10106457, 10106458, 10106459, 10106460, 10106461, 10106462, 10106463, 10106678, 10106679, 10106680, 10106681, 10106682, 10106683, 10106684, 10106685, 10106686, 10106687, 10106688.