EF1 tornado, (Okc)Will Rogers Apt to (Tik)Tinker Afb, Oklahoma, April 3, 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 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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

April 3, 2026

Touchdown

9:02 PM CDT (02:02 UTC)

Lifted

9:07 PM CDT (02:07 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.9 miles (4.6 km)

Path width

0 yards (0 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Oklahoma County

Touchdown point

35.393, -97.596

Lift-off point

35.384, -97.547

Surveyed by

NWS OUN

The office's name for it

OKC-OCCC

Survey last edited

June 5, 2026

Record number

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

A tornado likely began near Portland Avenue and Interstate 44, on the eastern grounds of Will Rogers International Airport. Moving to the southeast, the tornado damaged an exterior wall and windows of a building on the campus of Oklahoma City Community College. Generally sporadic damage occurred at several residences between May Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue, including damage to roofs, sheds and fences. Several trees and large tree limbs were blown down along the path as well. The tornado likely dissipated just east of Pennsylvania Avenue. The event time is estimated from radar.

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

2 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 90 mph.

• Damage to windows on the west facing walls.
• Damage to west facing walls.

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

A high-amplitude (closed) upper storm system moved eastward across the Rockies on the 3rd and fostered a severe convective episode across portions of Oklahoma and western-north Texas. Initial thunderstorm development during the afternoon focused along a cold front from southwest into north-central Oklahoma, with a mix of multicell and supercell storm modes producing hail. Later in the evening, an intense complex of thunderstorms moved from west-central into east-central Oklahoma, including across the Oklahoma City Metropolitan area. This cluster produced swaths of damaging winds and several tornadoes. By the late evening, increasing frontal thunderstorms moved towards the Red River, producing intermittent wind gusts/damage and flooding.

A spotter, chaser and an Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer each reported seeing this tornado near Interstate 44 and Interstate 240 on the southwest side of Oklahoma City. This tornado likely developed on the airport grounds of Will Rogers International Airport, south or southeast of the terminal building and moved east southeast, although thunderstorm wind damage was also observed on the airport grounds. After passing over Portland Avenue and damaging a road sign on Interstate 44, the tornado then hit Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) breaking a few windows on campus. Continuing east-southeast, the tornado damaged roofs and trees near SW 81st Street and Villa Avenue, and damaged a mobile home near SW 82nd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

This tornado was embedded within a larger area of wind damage. Oklahoma City Emergency Management reported areas of tree damage from just southeast of SE 44th St and Bryant Road to along SE 48th Street and SE 47th Street east of Sooner Road, or just west of Tinker AFB. One tree near Southeast 48th Street and Royal Lane was blown onto a mobile home.

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

6 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:56 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:37 UTC and running to 02:43 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 00:56 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.

Oklahoma City (OKC), 3 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Norman radar (KTLX), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:00 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

5 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.