EF2 tornado, Seminole to Cromwell, 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 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

May 4, 2022

Touchdown

6:44 PM CDT (23:44 UTC)

Lifted

7:14 PM CDT (00:14 UTC)

On the ground

30 minutes

Path length

12.5 miles (20.1 km)

Path width

1,760 yards (1609 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$300,000

County

Seminole County

Touchdown point

35.186, -96.736

Lift-off point

35.316, -96.600

Record number

2205041744-01

8 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

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

Several rounds of storms occurred on the 4th as a large trough approached the region. Initially several storms developed across northwest Oklahoma with large hail, with new storm development then occurring along and south of a warm front in central Oklahoma during the afternoon. These storms produced several tornadoes, along with hail and damaging wind gusts. Another round of storms moved in from the Texas panhandle during the evening of the 4th, bringing more tornadoes, hail, and wind. Localized flooding was also reported due to storms training over the same areas.

A long track tornado began between Maud and Seminole, before making a north to northeast path of damage across Seminole County. The most extensive damage was to buildings just east of downtown Seminole, as well as near the Seminole Academy. Buildings had the roofs removed from the tornado, and some buildings had exterior walls damaged. As the tornado moved to the northeast, it produced sporadic damage to mainly rural areas northeast of Seminole.

This tornado touched down southwest of Cromwell with the first damage noted near the intersection of county roads NS3660 and EW1180 where tree limb damage was produced. The tornado moved northeast causing scattered tree damage before moving into Cromwell. The tornado had grown to be around 600 yards wide by the time it reached Cromwell and damage was noted over a wide area of the town. The roof and walls of one mobile home was destroyed and other mobile homes were damaged, an RV was flipped over, and at least one house suffered roof damage. There was also significant tree damage at various locations in town. The tornado moved northeast through town, and then turned toward the east-northeast and entered Okfuskee County (see separate entry for Okfuskee County from the NWS office in Tulsa) along and north of State Highway 99A.

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

27 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:17 UTC, 27 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:27 UTC and running to 02:42 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 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 Norman radar (KTLX), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:43 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.