A large, slow-moving area of rain and embedded thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front that was moving through eastern Oklahoma on the 13th. Moisture was plentiful over the region ahead of a slow-moving upper level storm system that was moving into West Texas.
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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.
The episode as NWS TSA wrote it up.
A large, slow-moving area of rain and embedded thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front that was moving through eastern Oklahoma on the 13th. Moisture was plentiful over the region ahead of a slow-moving upper level storm system that was moving into West Texas. Portions of southeastern and east central Oklahoma received from two to four inches of rain during this event, which resulted in some flash flooding.
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 13, 11:09 AM CST, 51 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 1209 PM CDT MON APR 13 2015 .AVIATION... CONCERNING TAF SITES KTUL/KRVS/KBVO/KMLC/KXNA/KFYV/KFSM/KROG. FOR THE 18Z TAFS... WIDESPREAD RAIN WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA... AFFECTING ALL TAF SITES. PRECIP WILL SLOWLY END FROM THE NORTH SO HAVE TEMPO GROUPS TO DEAL WITH IT IN THAT AREA. HAVE LEFT PRECIP AND MVFR CEILINGS PREVAILING THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AT SOUTHERN SITES. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE SOMEWHAT THIS EVENING. OVERNIGHT... INTERMITTENT SHOWERS AND POSSIBLE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AT ALL SITES. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1042 AM CDT MON APR 13 2015/ DISCUSSION... THE COLD FRONT MOVING SOUTH THROUGH THE REGION HAS SLOWED SIGNIFICANTLY SINCE EARLY THIS MORNING. SOME HEAVY RAINFALL AND TRAINING OF CELLS ALONG THE FRONT PRODUCED NEARLY AN INCH OF PRECIP ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY OVER ABOUT 3 HOURS... NECESSITATING A FLOOD ADVISORY. HOWEVER... RAIN RATES HAVE LESSENED QUITE A BIT OVER THE LAST HOUR. CURRENT TEMPS AND POPS APPEAR TO AGREE WITH THE CURRENT ACTIVITY SO WILL NOT UPDATE ANY FORECAST PRODUCTS THIS MORNING. PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 615 AM CDT MON APR 13 2015/ AVIATION... CONCERNING TAF SITES KTUL/KRVS/KBVO/KMLC/KXNA/KFYV/KFSM/KROG. WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE THIS MORNING AND WILL GRADUALLY SHIFT TO THE SOUTH AND EAST THROUGH THE DAY. MVFR CEILINGS WILL PREVAIL WITH OCCASIONAL IFR IN HEAVIER STORMS... FOLLOWED BY IMPROVING CONDITIONS FROM THE NORTHWEST AFTER 18Z. SOME LINGERING SHOWERS AFTER 00Z ESPECIALLY SOUTH OF I-40 WITH POSSIBLE MVFR CONDITIONS RETURNING LATE IN THE PERIOD. PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 414 AM CDT MON APR 13 2015/ DISCUSSION... THE AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO THE NORTH OF INTERSTATE 44 IS SLOWLY WEAKENING EARLY THIS MORNING. THE MAIN FOCUS FOR RENEWED CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS IS EXPECTED TO BE FARTHER SOUTH NEAR THE PREFRONTAL TROUGH THAT CURRENTLY EXTENDS FROM NEAR OKEMAH TO THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF ARKANSAS. RAINFALL AMOUNTS TODAY WILL LIKELY EXCEED AN INCH IN MANY LOCATIONS FROM AROUND THE INTERSTATE 40 CORRIDOR SOUTH. RAIN CHANCES WILL CONTINUE TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY AS THE MAIN UPPER SYSTEM MAKES ITS WAY SLOWLY ACROSS THE AREA. THERE MAY BE A BRIEF BREAK IN THE RAIN LATE WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT BEFORE THE NEXT SLOW MOVING UPPER SYSTEM BEGINS TO AFFECT THE AREA. SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL OCCUR EACH DAY FROM THURSDAY THROUGH AT LEAST SUNDAY AS THIS UPPER LOW CLOSES OFF TO OUR WEST AND DRIFTS SLOWLY EAST. DAYTIME HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY BE NEAR THE SEASONAL NORMALS DURING THIS TIME PERIOD WITH OVERNIGHT LOWS A FEW DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL DUE TO CLOUD COVER. STAYED CLOSE TO GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS. && .TSA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OK...NONE. AR...NONE. && AVIATION...06
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 1257 PM CDT MON APR 13 2015 ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-141015- ADAIR OK-BENTON AR-CARROLL AR-CHEROKEE OK-CHOCTAW OK-CRAIG OK- CRAWFORD AR-CREEK OK-DELAWARE OK-FRANKLIN AR-HASKELL OK-LATIMER OK- LE FLORE OK-MADISON AR-MAYES OK-MCINTOSH OK-MUSKOGEE OK-NOWATA OK- OKFUSKEE OK-OKMULGEE OK-OSAGE OK-OTTAWA OK-PAWNEE OK-PITTSBURG OK- PUSHMATAHA OK-ROGERS OK-SEBASTIAN AR-SEQUOYAH OK-TULSA OK-WAGONER OK- WASHINGTON OK-WASHINGTON AR- 1257 PM CDT MON APR 13 2015 THIS OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS AS WELL AS MUCH OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM. RISK...LIMITED. AREA...FAR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA. ONSET...THIS AFTERNOON. FLASH FLOOD. RISK...LIMITED. AREA...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS. ONSET...ONGOING. HEAVY RAIN. RISK...ELEVATED. AREA...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS. ONSET...ONGOING. SIGNIFICANT WINDS. RISK...LIMITED. AREA...EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. ONSET...ONGOING. DISCUSSION... A WIDE AREA OF LIGHT TO MODERATE RAINFALL CONTINUES ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. POCKETS OF HEAVIER RAINFALL WILL HAVE THE CAPACITY TO PRODUCE RAINFALL RATES UP TO AN INCH PER HOUR... WHICH MAY RESULT IN SOME LOCALIZED FLOODING. THERE WILL BE A LIMITED CHANCE FOR A STRONG TO SEVERE STORM TO DEVELOP ACROSS FAR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON... BUT THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED SOUTH OF THE TEXAS BORDER. SPOTTER AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACTION STATEMENT... LOCAL SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL. EXTENDED DISCUSSION... AN UNSETTLED PATTERN WILL CONTINUE FOR MUCH OF THE UPCOMING WEEK WITH CONTINUED CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS EACH DAY. HOWEVER...THE THREAT OF SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER APPEARS MINIMAL AT THIS TIME. WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA CONTAINS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 126 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:00 UTC.
9 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Highway 63 was closed due to high water between Bache Road and Haileyville.
High Hill Road was washed out between Alderson and Bache roads.
Several streets were flooded and impassable in and around town.
Highway 31 was closed between Steven Taylor Industrial Park and Haywood, on the southwest side of McAlester.
The Z bridge was completely submerged on Double Springs Road.
Portions of Shuman Road were flooded.
Several streets were flooded in and around town.
Several roads were flooded between Muldrow and Roland.
Several roads were flooded in and around town.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, April 2015
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: 571827, 571832, 571836, 571837, 571838, 571840, 571841, 571842, 571843.