Hail and Damaging Winds in Oklahoma, April 15 to 16, 1998

Summary of events for April 15-16 1998:Two rounds of severe weather affected east central and southeast Oklahoma with this event: the first was during the late afternoon through late evening hours of April 15; the second was during the early morning hours of April 16.A broken line of severe thunderstorms, primarily producing dime to nickel-sized hail, developed late on the afternoon of April 15 along a Pacific cold front moving through eastern Oklahoma. The first thunderstorms developed east of Muskogee around 400 PM CDT, and the rest of the front lit up with thunderstorms during the evening. Areas affected by the severe thunderstorms were to the southeast of Mc Alester, Tahlequah, and West Siloam Springs. The north end of the thunderstorm line moved quickly into Arkansas early in the evening, while the south end of the line moved slowly and took the entire evening to sag south of the Red River.The second round of severe storms developed during the early morning hours of April 16 with the approach of strong upper level winds, well behind the cold front now located over north Texas. These storms produced large amounts of dime to quarter-sized hail, with one report of golfball-sized hail. The progression of these storms was similar to round one, with initial development over eastcentral Oklahoma followed by a southward push to the severe emphasis.