EF4 Barnsdall–Bartlesville tornado, Oklahoma, May 6, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF4

Date

May 6, 2024

Touchdown

9:12 PM CDT (02:12 UTC)

Lifted

10:07 PM CDT (03:07 UTC)

On the ground

55 minutes

Path length

40.8 miles (65.6 km)

Path width

1,700 yards (1554 m)

Deaths

2

Injuries

33

Property damage

$25 million

Counties

Osage and Washington counties

Touchdown point

36.330, -96.356

Lift-off point

36.789, -95.900

Record number

2405062012-01

81 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF4. The highest wind the damage implies is 180 mph.

• Bolts to foundation snapped with I-beams pulling out
• Image courtesy of the Civil Air Patrol
• Photo courtesy of Washington County Emergency Management
• Photo courtesy of the Civil Air Patrol

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

Severe thunderstorms developed over western Oklahoma during the afternoon of the 6th, as a dry line sharpened over the area. These storms developed eastward across central Oklahoma during the afternoon, and then moved into eastern Oklahoma during the evening. Very strong instability developed ahead of the storms, and wind shear became very strong during the mid to late evening, as wind fields strengthened over the region with the approach of a strong upper level disturbance. As a result of this very strong instability and wind shear, supercell thunderstorms evolved as the storms moved east of the dry line. Strengthening low level wind shear promoted the development of tornadoes, one of which became violent as it moved through Osage County. Large hail up to golf ball size and damaging wind gusts also occurred.||A squall line organized as the storms moved into eastern Oklahoma, with several supercells maintaining their structure within the squall line. Damaging wind gusts, large hail to quarter size, and several tornadoes occurred with the squall line as it moved through the area into the early morning of the 7th. One tornado became strong as it moved across portions of Adair County. Locally heavy rainfall resulted in some flash flooding.

This is the first segment of a two-segment tornado. This tornado developed just north of County Road 1701 southeast of Hominy, where trees were uprooted and snapped. The tornado moved northeast and crossed Highway 20, snapping numerous trees and snapping seven metal power poles. The tornado continued to snap and uproot numerous trees between Highway 20 and Barnsdall. Significant tree damage was found in several locations. A well-built home was destroyed just southwest of town. Multiple vehicles were thrown and rolled, and trees were stubbed and debarked in this area. The tornado then moved into Barnsdall, causing severe damage to the wax plant on the southeast side of town. More than 110 homes and businesses were damaged, 65 of those were destroyed. Numerous trees were stubbed in the area of some of the higher end damage. Two fatalities and at least 33 injuries occurred in Barnsdall. Significant tree damage continued northeast of Barnsdall, a few homes were damaged, and outbuildings were destroyed between Barnsdall and the county line. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 170 to 180 mph. The tornado continued into Washington County.

The deaths

2 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

16 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:56 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:05 UTC and running to 03:48 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:50 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 Tulsa radar (KINX), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:14 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

40 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.