EF3 Tornado — Pottawatomie, Oklahoma

2023-04-19 · near Pink, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma

Event narrative

The twelfth tornado of the outbreak developed about 2 miles south-southeast of Pink. This tornado was very slow, moving only 0.6 mile in 5 minutes near the intersection of Okay Road and Willow View Road. A metal truss electric transmission tower collapsed in the tornado and is the source of the EF3 rating. The tornado also damaged at least two homes and numerous trees.

Wider weather episode

Broad troughing was present aloft across the Western US during the afternoon/evening of the 19th. An area of surface low-pressure slowly deepened and moved towards north-central Kansas, with dryline extending from central Kansas through western-north Texas by the late afternoon hours. A well-timed lead upper wave, combined with broken insolation, led to the development of a few supercell thunderstorms across central Oklahoma. Multiple instances of large to very large (>2 inches) hail, along with 18 tornadoes, occurred across central Oklahoma.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.2290, -97.1110)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1095008. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.