Oklahoma, 2002

Tornado and Hail in Oklahoma, April 16, 2002

April 16, 2002 · NWS TSA · 2 events in 1 county or zone

1 hail, 1 tornado, 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
2

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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 16, 7:30 PM CST, 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 16, 7:30 PM CST, 35 minutes before
EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
830 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2002

HAVE ALREADY SENT OUT UPDATED ZONES TO ADD TORNADO WATCH NUMBER
101.  BEST CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT REMAIN ROUGHLY SOUTH
OF I-40.  NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES MADE TO REMAINDER OF FORECAST
AT THIS TIME.

HOWIESON
FCSTID = 44

.TSA...
AR...NONE.
OK...NONE.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 16, 4:35 PM CST, 3 hours 30 minutes before
ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-171200-

EASTERN OKLAHOMA / NORTHWEST ARKANSAS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
535 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2002

...UPDATED FOR SHORT-TERM TRENDS...

.DISCUSSION...
CLOUDS HAVE BEEN CLEARING ACROSS SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA THIS AFTERNOON
ALLOWING THE ATMOSPHERE TO DESTABILIZE.  SOUTHEAST WINDS WILL FOCUS
ON THE HIGHER TERRAIN AREAS OF SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND WEST CENTRAL
ARKANSAS ALLOWING ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP.  SOME OF THESE
STORMS MAY BRIEFLY BECOME SEVERE AND PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS.

IN ADDITION...ISOLATED STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS NORTH
TEXAS MAY MOVE INTO PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA THIS EVENING.
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY SHOULD WEAKEN ACROSS THE AREA AFTER SUNSET AS
THE ATMOSPHERE BECOMES MORE STABLE.

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:03 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Pushmataha

When
April 16, 8:05 PM CST
Where
Pushmataha County, 4 mi SE of Clayton
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
34.550, -95.300

Tornado, Pushmataha

When
April 16, 8:15 PM CST
Where
Pushmataha County, 1 mi N of Jumbo
Rating
F0
Path length
0.3 mi
Path width
25 yd
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
34.450, -95.733

The public reported a brief touchdown of a F0 tornado just north of Jumbo. No damage was reported.

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 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Oklahoma, 2002Warnings in Oklahoma, April 2002

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: 5289871, 5289872.