EF2 tornado, Sherwood to Process City, Oklahoma, April 28, 2020

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

EF2

Date

April 28, 2020

Touchdown

10:20 PM CDT (03:20 UTC)

Lifted

10:40 PM CDT (03:40 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

19.4 miles (31.2 km)

Path width

350 yards (320 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$700,000

Counties

McCurtain and Sevier counties

Touchdown point

34.196, -94.513

Lift-off point

34.040, -94.233

Record number

2004282120-01

155 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS SHV, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 127 mph.

• numerous trees snapped and uprooted
• Numerous trees snapped and uprooted
• trees snapped and uprooted
• mobile home debris carried 100 yds to the east

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A deepening upper level trough sweeping southeast across Oklahoma and Arkansas reinforced a cold front southeast across the Southern Plains and Ozarks region during the afternoon and evening hours on April 28th, where a complex of showers and thunderstorms developed by mid and late afternoon over these areas and quickly progressed southeast into the Four State Region. Despite the showers and thunderstorms that affected the area earlier in the day, instability remained adequate especially over East Texas, Southeast Oklahoma, and adjacent sections of Southwest Arkansas. As large scale forcing increased ahead of the trough, thus tapping into this unstable air, a squall line progressed southeast through all of the region during the late evening through the early morning hours on April 29th, producing widespread reports of damaging winds and large hail. A couple of isolated tornadoes also touched down across McCurtain County Oklahoma, one associated with the supercell that developed ahead of the line, and another associated within the squall line itself. These storms exited Southeast Oklahoma into Northeast Texas, Southwest Arkansas, and North Louisiana just prior to midnight on the 29th.

A weak shortwave trough shifted east across East Texas and North Louisiana during the morning hours of April 28th, where large scale forcing contributed to the development of showers and thunderstorms over East Texas, Southwest Arkansas, and North Louisiana. Cold air aloft associated with this trough resulted in steep lapse rates such that isolated severe thunderstorms developed over portions of East Texas and Southwest Arkansas throughout the morning and afternoon, where instances of large hail were reported. These storms diminished during the late afternoon, but a deepening upper level trough sweeping southeast across Oklahoma and Arkansas reinforced a cold front southeast across the Southern Plains and Ozarks region, where a complex of showers and thunderstorms developed by mid and late afternoon over these areas and quickly progressed southeast into the Four State Region. Despite the showers and thunderstorms that affected the area earlier in the day, instability remained adequate especially over East Texas, Southeast Oklahoma, and adjacent sections of Southwest Arkansas. As large scale forcing increased ahead of the trough, thus tapping into this unstable air, a squall line progressed southeast through all of the region during the late evening through the early morning hours on April 29th, producing widespread reports of damaging winds and large hail. A couple of isolated tornadoes also touched down across McCurtain County Oklahoma, with one tornado remaining on the ground from Eastern McCurtain County into Northcentral Sevier County Arkansas. These storms exited Southwest Arkansas during the early morning hours of April 29th.

An EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 110 mph touched down along Johnny Beavers Trail Road, snapping and uprooting numerous trees. Several RVs and vehicles were significantly damaged by the snapped and uprooted trees. The tornado then crossed the Northern sections of Broken Bow Lake, snapping and uprooting several more trees before lifting along the eastern shore of the lake.

An EF-2 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 125 mph touched down in a heavily wooded area along Union Valley Road, snapping and uprooting numerous trees. The tornado moved south southeast, tossing two barges over 100 yards and lifting a large portion of the roof deck of a home, causing it to collapse. The tornado then completely destroyed a single-wide manufactured home, with the base frame of the home twisted and tossed 100 yards to the east. Further to the south, another home sustained significant roof and structural damage when large gas tanks were tossed into it. The tornado then continued to snap numerous trees along Cascade Creek Road and along Wyr 20000 Road, as well as removing roofing material from another home on Union Valley Road. The tornado continued to track southeast across a heavily wooded area before crossing into Sevier County Arkansas.

This is the continuation of the Eastern McCurtain County EF-2 tornado. This tornado snapped and uprooted numerous trees along Kellum Road in Northwest Sevier County, and continued to touch down intermittently several times as it tracked southeast. It touched down again along Bellah Mine Road as it crossed DeQueen Lake, with additional trees snapped and uprooted along Story Creek Road and DeQueen Lake Road. Minor metal roof damage to a garage of a home also occurred in this area. The damage swath broadened as the tornado approached Highway 71, when it crossed Crosstrails Road, damaging the roofs of two chicken houses while uprooting and snapping numerous trees. The tornado continued on to cross Highway 71 where numerous trees were snapped, a single-wide mobile home was rolled and destroyed, and the roof of a farm building was partially damaged. The tornado snapped approximately ten more trees before lifting just south of Highway 71/371 several miles east of DeQueen just east of the intersection of Farm to Market Road. Although the tornado will be rated an EF-2 with estimated maximum winds near 125 mph, found in Eastern McCurtain County Oklahoma, the tornadic damage in North-central Sevier County was estimated to be EF-1, with estimated maximum winds up to 105 mph. The total tornado path length from Eastern McCurtain County Oklahoma into North-central Sevier County Arkansas was near 20 miles.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 01:25 UTC and running to 05:27 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:56 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:22 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2020 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.