EF2 tornado, Helena to Wakita, Oklahoma, March 5, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2, preliminary

Date

March 5, 2026

Touchdown

9:12 PM CST (03:12 UTC)

Lifted

9:51 PM CST (03:51 UTC)

On the ground

39 minutes

Path length

19.1 miles (30.7 km)

Path width

0 yards (0 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Alfalfa and Grant counties

Touchdown point

36.524, -98.340

Lift-off point

36.700, -98.092

Highest wind the damage implies

115 mph

Surveyed by

NWS OUN

The office's name for it

SW of Helena to NW of Nash

Survey last edited

May 20, 2026

Record number

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

52 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.

• Looks to be eastern edge of damage. West on this highway is a continuous string of power poles broken. Not entering them all
• Western edge of power poles
• 9-12 poles snapped from this point southward
• Separate enclosed garage completely demolished, vehicle thrown about 30 feet

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

Scattered severe thunderstorms impacted portions of western and northern Oklahoma from the late evening of the 5th into early morning hours of the 6th. This activity developed in the vicinity of a dryline as a deep upper trough began to establish across the Four Coners. As a nocturnal low-level jet strengthened after sunset, a pair of cyclic tornadic thunderstorms emerged from the eastern Texas Panhandle into northern Oklahoma. In addition to several tornadoes, including a deadly tornado west of Fairview in Major County, large hail and eventually damaging wind gusts were observed with severe convection across the region.

This tornado developed about 4 miles west-southwest of Helena, or about a mile southeast of the community of McWillie. This tornado moved generally northeast although there was some variability in motion as it moved north of Helena and then south and east of Jet. Power poles were damaged as the tornado crossed State Highway 45 and areas west of Helena. Significant damage was observed along State Highway 58 north of Helena where a number of power poles were broken along a mile stretch of SH-58, and at least three barns were destroyed (EF2) both along SH-58 and east of SH-58 on E0300 Road. The tornado continued to produce tree and power pole damage as it moved northeast. Power poles were broken east of Jet along N2740 Road and along U.S. Highway 64 on both sides of the Alfalfa-Grant County line. The tornado then moved into Grant County with the centerline crossing the county line just north of U.S. 64.

This tornado moved from Alfalfa County into Grant County west of Nash, along and north of U.S. Highway 64. A row of power poles was broken along U.S. 64 on both sides on the Alfalfa-Grant County line with damage consistent with an EF2 tornado The tornado was turning to the left and moving more north-northeast as it moved into Grant County. The tornado continued to damage trees and power poles between the county line and N2760 Road in areas south of E0220 Road. The tornado dissipated near or soon after crossing E0220 Road.

This tornado developed south of Wakita and a mobile home was unroofed and at least two buildings were destroyed along Harper Road. A number of power poles were damaged along State Highway 11 as the tornado moved northeast. Although the last damage was noted by the survey team along State Highway 11, a storm chaser observed the tornado at least a couple of miles farther northeast and the tornado is estimated to have dissipated about 5 miles southeast of Wakita.

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

32 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:40 UTC, 32 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:45 UTC and running to 06:00 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 Slight 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 00:57 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 Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 16 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:11 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

6 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.