EF2 Tornado — Roger Mills, Oklahoma

2023-02-26 · near Cheyenne, Roger Mills, Oklahoma

Event narrative

A tornado touched down just south of State Highway 47 and just southwest of the Cheyenne cemetery. The tornado initially moved east-southeast, then turned northeast moving through the northwestern portion of Cheyenne including a portion of the Washita Battlefield. A number of mobile homes were destroyed both west of Cheyenne and also along US-283 north of Cheyenne. Other homes were also damaged along the path. One fatality occurred in a mobile home that was destroyed. The tornado continued moving northeast damaging trees, power poles and at least one outbuilding southwest of and immediately west of Strong City before dissipating. A photograph from one of the destroyed mobile homes near Cheyenne was recovered near Lambert, OK in Alfalfa County, about 100 miles northeast of Cheyenne.

Wider weather episode

A powerful storm system, with highly anomalous magnitudes of wind shear and moisture for late February, impacted the forecast area on the evening of the 26th. A broken line of severe thunderstorms developed across the eastern Texas Panhandle/far western Oklahoma and quickly swept through much of the forecast area. Widespread wind damage, including gusts near 90 mph, along with a record number of tornadoes (13) for February occurred. Several reports of large hail were also received. Behind the line of thunderstorms, a tight pressure gradient and strong westerly low-level jet allowed widespread 50-60 mph winds gusts to continue through the late evening hours.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.6090, -99.7000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1081667. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.