EF1 tornado, Bearden to Okemah, Oklahoma, May 4, 2022

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 mphthis tornado

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

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   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

EF1

Date

May 4, 2022

Touchdown

7:44 PM CDT (00:44 UTC)

Lifted

7:45 PM CDT (00:45 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.4 miles (0.6 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$15,000

County

Okfuskee County

Touchdown point

35.390, -96.344

Lift-off point

35.395, -96.341

Record number

2205041844-01

37 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN and NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 107 mph.

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

A strong storm system slowly moved from the central Rockies into the Southern and Central Plains on the 4th and 5th. The associated surface frontal boundary located over northern Texas early on the 4th moved north into central Oklahoma as a warm front by the late afternoon, and then near the Kansas border on the 5th ahead of a cold front. The first round of thunderstorms developed over eastern Oklahoma during the morning hours of the 4th. These thunderstorms were rooted above a shallow, stable layer of air near the ground, and the strongest storms produced hail up to penny size. Another round of thunderstorms developed during the early evening hours. The storms over northeastern Oklahoma were rooted above a shallow, stable layer of air near the ground, and produced large hail up to half dollar size. The thunderstorms that developed over east central Oklahoma near the warm front were rooted near the ground. These storms were able to become supercells, given the moderately strong instability that had developed during the afternoon, combined with strong deep layer wind shear. The low-level wind shear had become strong near the warm front itself, which supported the development of a few tornadoes. Thunderstorms continued to develop across the area during the overnight hours of the 4th and early morning hours of the 5th, which resulted in locally heavy rainfall and flash flooding. The final round of thunderstorms developed during the early afternoon of the 5th, with the strongest storms producing hail up to quarter size.||Widespread, heavy rainfall during this period resulted in three to eight inches of rain across much of east central and northeastern Oklahoma, with areas of up to twelve inches. In addition to the flash flooding, this widespread, heavy rainfall resulted in major flooding along portions of the Neosho River, the Illinois River, the Deep Fork River, and Baron Fork Creek, as well as moderate flooding along portions of Polecat Creek, and the Poteau River.

This tornado developed in Seminole County, and produced damage in Cromwell before moving into Okfuskee County. It crossed into Okfuskee County about a mile northeast of Cromwell, or about four miles west of Bearden, and moved east-northeast damaging trees. The tornado enlarged and turned more northeast as it approached the E1130 Road, where the tree damage increased with numerous uprooted and snapped trees through where it crossed Highway 48 with a damage path width of about 3/4 of a mile wide. Outbuildings were also damaged. A gas station received minor damage where it crossed I-40. The tornado continued north-northeast producing light tree damage across the E1100 Road and Highway 56, then dissipated before it reached Highway 62 northwest of Okemah. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 105 to 110 mph.

This tornado uprooted a few trees, and snapped large tree limbs. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 90 to 95 mph.

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

26 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:18 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:30 UTC and running to 02:43 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 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:33 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 Norman radar (KTLX), 85 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:43 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 2022 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

17 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.