Unrated tornado, Pearsonia to Bigheart, Oklahoma, April 26, 2026

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 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. Unratedthis tornado

   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, as surveyed

Unrated, preliminary

Date

April 26, 2026

Touchdown

8:57 PM CDT (01:57 UTC)

Lifted

9:01 PM CDT (02:01 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

1.4 miles (2.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Osage County

Touchdown point

36.799, -96.287

Lift-off point

36.797, -96.262

Surveyed by

NWS TSA

Survey last edited

June 26, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

Approximate path of tornado observed by several storm chasers. It remained over open country with no known damage.

Written by NWS TSA in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

Severe thunderstorms developed across northeastern Oklahoma during the evening of the 26th, near a warm front as an upper level disturbance approached the region from the west. The atmosphere across eastern Oklahoma became very unstable during the afternoon and early evening and the deep-layer wind shear was strong with the approach of the upper level disturbance. Some of the thunderstorms were able to develop into supercells due to the favorable combination of instability and wind shear. Several tornadoes and large hail up to quarter size occurred with the strongest thunderstorms.

This tornado was observed and documented by research meteorologists. It remained over open country with no known damage. The path details were based on their observations and radar data.

This tornado was observed by several storm chasers. It remained over open country with no known damage. The path details were based on the storm chaser observations and radar data.

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 01:41 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:15 UTC and running to 05:00 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:05 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.

Bartlesville/Philli (BVO), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:59 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 2026 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

9 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.