EF2 tornado in Latimer County, Oklahoma

This tornado continued from Pittsburg County. As it moved into Latimer County, the tornado destroyed a double-wide mobile home, severely damaged another home and barn, and rolled an F350 pickup truck about 50 yards. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted as the tornado approached Yanush. In Yanush, about 50 homes were damaged, eight of those were destroyed along with one business. Numerous sheds, barns, and outbuildings were destroyed. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down.

Elevated severe thunderstorms containing large hail developed north of a warm front that was moving slowly northward across eastern Oklahoma and west central Arkansas during the morning and early afternoon of the 10th.

Another round of severe thunderstorms developed late in the afternoon as a dry line approached the area from the west. Extreme instability and strong vertical wind shear resulted in the development of long-lived supercell thunderstorms that moved across eastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas during the late afternoon and evening. Several of these supercells became tornadic and a few produced long-lived damaging tornadoes.

One such supercell developed and moved along the Oklahoma-Kansas border and then into southwestern Missouri. This storm produced a tornado in northeastern Craig County OK that remained on the ground for 29 miles in Oklahoma, continued for about 31 miles in Newton County MO, and finally dissipated about 15 miles into Barry County MO. It produced EF-4 damage in several locations, including Picher, a small town in north-central Ottawa County OK. Twenty-one fatalities, over 350 injuries, and an estimated $60 million in property damage resulted from this tornado in Oklahoma and Missouri. Six of the fatalities and about 150 injuries occurred in Picher OK.

Other strong tornadoes developed and moved across portions of Pittsburg and Latimer Counties. A EF-2 tornado was on the ground for about eight miles west of McAlester, damaging numerous homes in its path. Another EF-2 tornado developed southwest of Hartshorne in Pittsburg County and moved 19 miles before dissipating just east of Yanush in Latimer County. Four injuries resulted from that tornado and numerous homes were severely damaged or destroyed.