Showers and thunderstorms increased across eastern Oklahoma during the morning of the 28th, and the activity persisted into the afternoon. Thunderstorms redeveloped north of I-40 by mid-evening, and more thunderstorms moved into northeastern Oklahoma from southern Kansas before midnight.
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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.
Showers and thunderstorms increased across eastern Oklahoma during the morning of the 28th, and the activity persisted into the afternoon. Thunderstorms redeveloped north of I-40 by mid-evening, and more thunderstorms moved into northeastern Oklahoma from southern Kansas before midnight. This activity continued to affect northeastern Oklahoma into the early afternoon of the 29th. Unseasonably rich moisture across the region for this time of year, and multiple rounds of thunderstorms affecting some of the same areas, resulted in 2-day rainfall amounts from four to nine inches across portions of Okmulgee County. This heavy rainfall caused 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 Jul 29, 9:48 AM CST, 12 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Tulsa OK
1048 AM CDT Wed Jul 29 2020
...UPDATE...
.DISCUSSION...
With PWATs running around 2.3 inches, expect localized very heavy
rainfall to persist into the afternoon. Ongoing area of showers
across east central OK has been producing rainfall rates over
2 inches/hour...with the Okmulgee mesonet mesonet site receiving
4.6 inches of rain the past 3 hours. HRRR output suggests that
showers should taper off some across much of eastern OK later this
afternoon, and have trimmed back PoPs a bit.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
TUL 84 73 90 70 / 70 60 50 60
FSM 83 73 92 72 / 80 70 60 60
MLC 82 73 92 71 / 90 40 40 60
BVO 83 70 87 69 / 90 70 60 60
FYV 80 70 87 67 / 90 80 70 70
BYV 82 70 89 68 / 90 80 80 70
MKO 80 72 89 69 / 90 60 50 60
MIO 83 71 88 69 / 80 80 70 60
F10 81 71 89 69 / 90 50 40 60
HHW 85 75 93 74 / 80 30 30 60
&&
.TSA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OK...Flood Watch through Thursday morning for OKZ049-053>076.
AR...Flood Watch through Thursday morning for ARZ001-002-010-011-019-
020-029.
&&
SHORT TERM...18Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Tulsa OK 428 AM CDT Wed Jul 29 2020 ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-300930- 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- 428 AM CDT Wed Jul 29 2020 This Outlook is for Northwest and West Central Arkansas as well as much of Eastern Oklahoma. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. FLASH FLOOD. RISK...Limited. AREA...Eastern Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas. ONSET...This morning. HEAVY RAIN. RISK...Elevated. AREA...Eastern Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas. ONSET...This morning. THUNDERSTORMS WITH DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. RISK...Elevated. AREA...Eastern Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas. ONSET...This morning. DISCUSSION... Scattered thunderstorms, with locally heavy rain, will spread east across the region today. Additional thunderstorms are expected to redevelop tonight, especially across northeast Oklahoma. Given the high rain rates and slow storm motions expected, localized flash flooding is likely. Most areas will see around an inch or two of rain. However, locally higher amounts of 4 to 6 inches will be possible in the stronger storms that move over the same locations. SPOTTER AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACTION STATEMENT... Spotter Activation Not Expected. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday. THURSDAY...Thunderstorm and Heavy Rain Potential. FRIDAY...Thunderstorm Potential and Heavy Rain Potential. SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...Thunderstorm Potential. MONDAY AND TUESDAY...No Hazards. EXTENDED DISCUSSION... An approaching upper level disturbance from the northwest Thursday will increase the potential for severe weather across eastern Oklahoma Thursday afternoon into the evening hours. One or more clusters of storms will be possible with a damaging wind threat. Locally heavy rainfall is also expected with this round of storms as well Thursday night into Friday, which could lead to additional flooding. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING STATEMENT... The flash flood watch will likely need to be extended for some areas Thursday, especially in locations that receive heavy rainfall today and tonight. weather.gov/tulsa contains additional information.
The Tulsa radar (KINX), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:01 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Roads in and around Okmulgee and Morris were flooded by heavy rainfall.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, July 2020
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: 905176.