EF1 tornado, Quinton to Lewisville, Oklahoma, May 22, 2024

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 22, 2024

Touchdown

9:37 AM CDT (14:37 UTC)

Lifted

9:44 AM CDT (14:44 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

2.9 miles (4.7 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$25,000

Counties

Haskell and Pittsburg counties

Touchdown point

35.123, -95.384

Lift-off point

35.128, -95.334

Record number

2405220837-01

9 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 94 mph.

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

Strong to severe thunderstorms redeveloped over eastern Oklahoma during the morning of the 22nd, as a cold front continued to move through the area. Thunderstorms that developed north of the cold front produced hail up to penny size. The atmosphere ahead of the cold front was moist and very unstable, and this instability combined with strong deep layer wind shear resulted in the development of some supercell thunderstorms. These storms moved through southeastern Oklahoma through the early afternoon, producing large hail up to hen egg size, one tornado, and damaging wind gusts.

This is the first segment of a two-segment tornado. This tornado developed west of Quinton, to the north of Highway 31. The tornado uprooted trees, snapped large tree limbs, and damaged the roofs of homes as it moved east across town, then moved into Haskell County near Highway 31. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 85 to 95 mph.

This is the second segment of a two-segment tornado. The tornado moved into Haskell County near Highway 31. It moved east, and then east-northeast, dissipating north of Highway 31 and Highway 2, snapping numerous large tree limbs along its path. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 80 to 85 mph.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 14:22 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:45 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:53 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.

Stigler (GZL), 30 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:36 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

4 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.