Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, October 4 to 5, 1998

A tornado briefly touched down in the southwest part of the city of Pawnee at 738 PM CDT near 6th Street and Ash. The tornado travelled northeast for 0.4 miles and had a width of 125 yards. Many trees were downed or snapped along the path with about fifty homes receiving minor roof, window, and porch damage. One mobile home was destroyed. Widespread wind damage also occurred in Pawnee due to strong winds in the vicinity of the tornado known as a "rear flank downdraft". The roof at the high school auditorium was blown off by the nearby winds. Damage from the tornado and the winds combined were nearly $2 million. (The official damage estimate in this entry does not include damages caused by the nearby winds.)Most of the tornado damage was F0. However, the tornado was rated F1 based on an estimate of the most intense winds reaching speeds near 85 mph. The tornado lifted before reaching US Hwy 64. However, an isolated home downstream of the tornado path and 2 miles from downtown Pawnee received F1 damage. The Pawnee mesonet site, located 3 miles ENE of Pawnee and 0.4 miles north of the house, measured wind gusts as high as 80 mph. (See the separate Thunderstorm Wind entry for more information on the mesonet observations.) The open prairie, the associated lack of tracers (wind-blown objects) near the mesonet site, and the isolated nature of the home make it impossible to determine if tornadic damage occurred at/near these locations. However, the tornado damage in Pawnee, the F1 damaged home, and the mesonet site are all aligned along the storm's motion.

Strong winds (known as a rear flank downdraft) associated with a nearby F1 tornado blew the roof off of the high school auditorium, causing over $1 million in damage to the high school. Debris was scattered throughout the high school campus. An adjacent metal-style bus garage was also damaged. Many trees and power lines were downed or snapped by the winds throughout Pawnee. Specifically, several big oak trees were blown down at the Pawnee Agency, including one blown onto the pre-school. Near the Pawnee Municipal Hospital, large trees along Boulder Street were blown down, one falling onto a mobile unit. Tree damage was also reported in the Lusk Addition. A trailer home just northwest of Pawnee was scattered about by the storm, and a nearby cattle trailer was overturned. Damage from the wind and the tornado combined are nearly $2 million. For more information on the nearby tornado, see the separate preceding Tornado entry.

With the passage of a thunderstorm containing a possible tornado just 0.4 miles south, the Pawnee mesonet site measured wind gusts in excess of 50 kts (57 mph) for over 20 minutes. The clockwise veering of such strong winds on this time scale clearly shows the passage of a supercell thunderstorm (rotating thunderstorm). Specific reports follow:- 740 PM CDT: 67 mph gust from the east- 745 PM CDT: 79 mph gust from the south- 750 PM CDT: 78 mph gust from the west- 755 PM CDT: 60 mph gust from the northwest- 800 PM CDT: 80 mph gust from the north

Location: intersection of US Hwy 412 and OK Hwy 99

Location: intersection of OK Hwy 99 and 51

Winds of 60 to 80 mph reported in Hominy.

An F0 tornado skipped across southern Osage County just south of Barnsdall. Four homes received minor damage. However, three barns were completely destroyed, two outbuildings were destroyed, and numerous trees had 12-inch tree limbs knocked out of them.

Two mobile homes were destroyed, and one home was damaged. Two people were injured in this incident. The location was 2 miles west of Ochelata just inside Osage County. The Washington County Emergency Management Director reported that the damage pattern was 300 to 400 yards in length.

Large tree limbs were blown down in Ochelata

Several trees and a power line were blown down in Nowata.

A home sustained roof damage.

Location: Intersection of OK Hwy 20 and US Hwy 75.

An abandoned mobile home was flipped over. Note: The mobile home was not tied down.

Location: in the community of Westport

An F0 tornado touched down just northeast of Watova around 1005 PM CDT, destroying a barn on Section Road 27. The tornado continued east, destroying the old one-room Terrell School Building near Section Roads 27 and 415. A mobile home at Section Roads 26 and 416 lost most of its roof. Portions of the roof were wrapped around trees over one hundred yards southeast of the home. From there, the tornado most likely crossed Lake Oologah and continued to an area 3 miles north of New Alluwe by 1015 PM CDT, where the tornado destroyed a shed, damaged a house, damaged a barn, and knocked down several trees. The tornado was actually seen by a trained spotter 3 miles north of New Alluwe.

Spotters reported a funnel cloud. The parent storm later went on to produce an F0 tornado northwest of Collinsville.

Several spotters reported a brief tornado touchdown in a rural area.

Five to six power lines were blown down near New Alluwe

Location: near the intersection of US Hwy 169 and OK Hwy 20

A significant long-track tornado occurred on the evening of October 4, following a 27-mile track from 2 miles southeast of Boley in Okfuskee County to 3 miles southwest of Nuyaka in Okmulgee County. The tornado first touched down in Okfuskee County at 1037 PM CDT and lifted over Okmulgee County at 1108 PM CDT. (This Tornado entry covers that part of the track in Okfuskee County. See the separate Tornado entry for details on the portion in Okmulgee County.) The most significant damage to structures occurred near the communities of IXL and Haydenville, while much of the damage in the rural areas across which the tornado tracked consisted of downed/uprooted trees.In the small community of IXL, located on OK Hwy 48 north of Okemah, nearly every structure sustained at least some damage. An NWS Storm Survey revealed F2 damage at IXL, where a house and two mobile homes were destroyed. Pieces of one mobile home were found one-half mile away. A local newspaper also reported four businesses and a public building at the IXL Park were destroyed. Six houses and two more mobile homes sustained major damage, while another 21 houses and one mobile home sustained minor damage.In Haydenville, located north of Okemah on OK Hwy 56, two single-family houses and a mobile home were destroyed. Three houses, three mobile homes, and one public building (the Haydenville Fire Station) sustained major damage. Five houses and one business (the Haydenville Store) sustained minor damage. An NWS Storm Survey revealed F2 damage just southwest of Haydenville, where a mobile home was completely destroyed. Four people inside the trailer were injured, one of them critically. The tie-downs on the double-wide trailer were snapped, and the home appeared to have travelled a significant distance before disintegrating.This tornado was unusual for the fact that it covered such a large area. A survey showed that the damage path was at times 3 miles wide, lending credence to the idea that there were several smaller tornadoes circulating around the larger tornado. The larger tornado reached as wide as 8/10 of a mile.

Much wind damage occurred, specifically trees were uprooted, a mobile home was destroyed, a cinder block building was destroyed, a garage was destroyed, and there was roof damage to a building.

Several large tree limbs were blown down

This tornado track is the continuation of the same tornado that tracked through Okfuskee County earlier in the evening, producing F2 damage. In Okmulgee County, the tornado only produced F0 damage in the form of numerous trees downed/uprooted along its path. When all was said and done, this tornado tracked 27 miles from 2_SE Boley to 3_SW Nuyaka, and it injured four people in Okfuskee County.

The school in Nuyaka had some roof damage where the metal was torn off and twisted. Sheet metal from barns and sheds lay on the ground. A church had its steeple blown away. A trailer had sheet metal peeled up on it, and the barn that stood in front of it was demolished. The Nuyaka Store lost its sign to the wind.

A seasoned storm chaser on an aerial survey of the area reported a one-mile damage track through a forested area in the Okmulgee Wildlife Management Area just east of Nuyaka. The degree of tree damage suggested the tornado was F1 intensity. Damage in this unpopulated area consisted of numerous trees blown over.

Very large golfball to baseball-sized hail caused extensive damage throughout the city of Okmulgee. The combination of very large hail and strong thunderstorm winds knocked out numerous windows. Several hundred homes and business sustained roof damage. The Okmulgee Times daily newspaper quoted the police chief as saying that the hailstorm "knocked out about half the windows in town." Windows were knocked out of many cars in the Wal-Mart parking lot, and many city vehicles had their windows knocked out. Two buildings at OSU-Okmulgee were extensively damaged. Other buildings on the campus had broken windows, while the campus greenhouse was nearly destroyed by the large hail and wind. The Okmulgee School District alone had about $300,000 in damage. The middle school suffered extensive roof damage and damage to the floor. The Board building suffered extensive glass breakage and roof damage. Fifteen buses received damage, and the steel roof at Eastside was damaged. Westside and Banneker each sustained roof damage, and the high school had minor roof damage to its new building.

A roof was blown off of an outbuilding.

Strong winds blew a power line onto a trash truck, trapping a city worker. The worker was not injured. When the strong winds were combined with baseball-sized hail, there was extensive damage throughout the city of Okmulgee. See the separate preceding Hail entry for more details.

Several trees were blown across OK Hwy 72 on the Muskogee/McIntosh County line.

Several trees were blown across OK Hwy 72 on the Muskogee/McIntosh County line one mile south of Council Hill.

Location: along US Hwy 69 at the Arkansas River

Location: along US Hwy 69 at the Arkansas River

The same parent thunderstorm that produced a 27-mile tornado track through Okfuskee and Okmulgee Counties produced another more short-lived tornado just southeast of Tullahassee. The tornado itself produced a swath of damage through a forested area and caused roof damage to one house. The parent thunderstorm also produced winds that knocked down trees in Tullahassee around 1230 AM CDT.

Trees were uprooted and a skylight was broken.

Quite a few trees were blown down at OK Hwy 16 and US Hwy 62. There was apparently a 100-foot wide swath of damage. These winds were produced by the same thunderstorm that produced a tornado near Tullahassee.

Several trees were blown down.

A barn was blown away.

Several large tree limbs were blown down.

Quarter-sized hail caused damage to several cars in Oaks.

Large tree limbs were blown down.

Several large tree limbs were blown onto a road.

Large tree limbs were blown down.

Lightning hit a bank building in Pryor, leaving a hole the size of a softball in it outside wall. The force of the lightning strike sent bricks flying, one of which sailed through the bank's sign. Most of the computer terminals at the bank were lost.

A large tree was blown down.

The roof was partially blown off of a mobile home.

The roof was blown off of a storage building at a lumber yard.

Several trees were uprooted, and large tree limbs blocked a roadway.

Wind blew away part of a condemned building.

Power lines were blown down along the Mayes/Delaware County line.

The roof was blown off of a tool shed.

The porch roof and skirting of a mobile home were blown away.

Several trees were blown down.

Large tree limbs were blown down.

A carport and part of a fence were damaged on Conser Street.

A tree was blown over.

Lightning hit a home in Antlers, blowing a hole through a wall, destroying two TV sets and catching a set of curtains on fire.