EF0 tornado, Pink to Johnson, Oklahoma, April 26, 2024

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

April 26, 2024

Touchdown

5:05 AM CDT (10:05 UTC)

Lifted

5:08 AM CDT (10:08 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.4 miles (3.9 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$30,000

County

Pottawatomie County

Touchdown point

35.356, -96.969

Lift-off point

35.377, -96.936

Record number

2404260405-01

45 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 95 mph.

• Some surrounding sporadic tree damage, so this is likely new. The tree in the foreground is pointing N, so evidence on convergence. Also scattered sheet metal north of the home.
• Convergent path of EF0 tree damage.
• About 100 feet wide of EF0 tree damage.
• Trees, and some kind of large roofing fabric from homes under construction in the trees.

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

During the early morning of the 26th, ahead of a strong upper wave passage, a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) developed across portions of central into eastern Oklahoma. Despite strong kinematics (wind shear) in place, the initial phase of the linear complex was rather benign (in terms of severe weather outcomes). However, as the complex overspread the Interstate 35 corridor, organization increased rapidly, including the development of several strong mesovortices. A cluster of weak tornadoes and wind damage occurred across portions of east-central Oklahoma, associated with these mesovortices. By the afternoon, while stronger synoptic support had lifted into portions of the Missouri Valley, strong convergence along a trailing boundary/pseudo-dryline promoted development of a few transient storms. A report of small hail was received with one of these storms across Seminole County.

Two nearly-simultaneous tornadoes occurred in northwestern Pottawatomie County from a QLCS storm. The first one developed just east of the Cleveland-Pottawatomie County line along Lake Road and moved northeast and then north dissipating or merging with a second tornado near Fishmarket Road and Oakridge Lane. Two barns had siding damage, but otherwise damage was primarily to trees along the path.

Two nearly-simultaneous tornadoes occurred in northwestern Pottawatomie County from a QLCS storm. The second tornado developed just inside Cleveland County before moving quickly into Pottawatomie County. Trees were snapped and a house received damage to shingles along and just east of the county line in Pottawatomie County. The tornado moved generally northeast producing tree damage and it may have merged with the first tornado near Fishmarket Road and Oakridge Lane. The tornado continued northeast for a little over 0.5 miles continuing to produce tree damage until it dissipated east of Lakewood Circle.

A tornado developed southwest of US Highway 177 and Acme Road and moved northeast through the northwestern portion of Shawnee. A few homes had shingle damage and there were some sheds, fences, metal buildings, trees and power poles damaged along the path.

This tornado developed west of US Highway 377 near Hazel Dell Road and moved northeast crossing into Lincoln County about one mile east of US Highway 377. Damage in Pottawatomie County was primarily to trees, although at least one home along US-377 received some roof damage.

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:55 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 08:28 UTC and running to 11:07 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:25 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), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:04 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 2024 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

77 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 78 of them

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.