Thunderstorm Wind — Mccurtain, Oklahoma

2023-06-17 · near Hochatown, Mccurtain, Oklahoma

Event narrative

A tree was downed onto an RV at Beavers Bend State Park, resulting in the fatality of a female occupant inside.

Wider weather episode

Areas of deep convection began to develop late in the afternoon and through the evening of June 17th across Southeast Oklahoma into the Ark-La-Tex region. A stationary front was draped from west-northwest to east-southeast through the region, with temperatures generally in the mid to upper 90s and dew points around 80 degrees. These conditions contributed to extreme instability with around 5500-6000 J/kg. As a result, very vigorous updraft development occurred over the next several hours, eventually maturing into some supercell structures given 45-55 knots of bulk shear. The threat for damaging wind gusts quickly materialized with several reports of damaging wind gusts across McCurtain County in Southeast Oklahoma prior to midnight, resulting in one fatality from a fallen tree at Beavers Bend State Park.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.1400, -94.7000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1112859. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.