EF2 Tornado — Cleveland, Oklahoma

2023-02-26 · near Norman, Cleveland, Oklahoma

Event narrative

The tornado that moved through Goldsby in McClain County crossed the Canadian River and into Cleveland County moving swiftly through southern and eastern portions of Norman. The tornado passed less than one mile southeast of the National Weather Center, and damaged numerous homes in neighborhoods near 12th Avenue SE and Cedar Lane Road, and northeast of 24th Avenue SE and Imhoff Road as well as damaging apartments and businesses near the intersection of State Highway 9 and US Highway 77. EF2 damage was noted at several apartment buildings, homes and businesses in these areas. Moving northeast, the tornado moved into less areas with less density of homes and people, but still affected neighborhoods near 36th Avenue SE and Lindsay Street, 48th Avenue SE and Lindsey, and 60th Avenue SE and Alameda Street. The tornado continued northeast damaging trees, power lines and a few homes before dissipating in far southeast Oklahoma City near SE 125th Street and Dobbs Road. The tornado moved at over 60 mph.

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 → (35.1640, -97.4540)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1082894. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.