EF2 Tornado — Carter, Oklahoma

2024-04-27 · near Ardmore, Carter, Oklahoma

Event narrative

The Ardmore tornado initially developed about 5 miles southwest of Ardmore, and moved north-northeast towards Ardmore. Some homes near Gateway Road had most or all of their roofs removed. Tree damage was significant along this area.

The tornado then continued north-northeast through the west side of Ardmore especially near Plainview Road. Many homes suffered significant roof damage. Ardmore emergency management reported that 52 homes were damaged with 17 of them a total loss. The tornado moved near a Best Buy distribution center on the northwest side of Ardmore blowing over numerous trailers.

Continuing north-northeast, the tornado continued producing tree and power pole damage, and EF2 roof damage to another home near Lake Ardmore road. The tornado crossed Interstate 35 just east of Ardmore Club Lake and turned more northeast before dissipating near US Highway 77 north of Deer Creek Road.

Wider weather episode

A widespread, long-duration and historic severe weather and tornado outbreak occurred from the late morning through late evening on the 27th. In all, 32 tornadoes affected portions of the WFO Norman Forecast Area, the third most in a single day during the period of reliable record. This included six significant (EF-2+) tornadoes and one violent (EF-4) tornado that struck Marietta (Love County).

Synoptically, a slow-moving and deep mid/upper-level wave progressed across the Four Corners region during the day. At the surface, an area of low-pressure strengthened/deepened across southwest Kansas, with a trailing dryline extending near and just west of the 100th meridian through much of the day. As ascent overspread this feature, numerous (organized) severe thunderstorms developed across the WFO Norman Forecast Area, even by as early as daybreak/early morning hours. The boundary layer was characterized by strong instability and wind shear, favorable for an organized/supercell storm mode. Initial supercells across western Oklahoma produced a few reports of large hail and the first (brief) tornadoes of the event just after 10 AM. Supercell storm development continued across portions of the area, focusing along an axis from western-north Texas into north-central Oklahoma through much of the afternoon. The first significant (EF-2) tornado of the event impacted the eastern edge of Knox City (Knox County, Texas) just after 3 PM. Through the evening, a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) organized and swept across much of southern/central Oklahoma and adjacent north Texas. Numerous mesovortex-type tornadoes developed and impacted the aforementioned areas. Ahead of the main convective line, strong warm air advection, driven by an increasing (45-60 knot) low-level jet, promoted the development of pre-frontal/line supercell thunderstorms. Multiple of these storms became strongly tornadic, producing multiple strong and long-tracking tornadoes. This included an EF-2 tornado impacting the western portions of Ardmore, an EF-3 tornado making a direct impact on the historic downtown district and adjacent neighborhoods in Sulphur, an EF-3 tornado traversing western portions of Hughes County, just west of Holdenville, and an EF-4 tornado destroying a Dollar Tree distribution center and nearby large retail stores on the western side of Marietta. The latter three tornadoes resulted in fatalities (1 in Sulphur, 2 near Holdenville and 1 in Marietta) along with additional injuries.

Beyond severe weather outcomes, a significant flash flooding event occurred from the late evening of the 27th through mid-morning of the 28th. The corridor of highest rainfall, with observed 24-hour totals of 5-to-8 inches, occurred across portions of south-central into southeast Oklahoma, on the heels of a cluster of significant tornado impacts earlier in the evening. Additional flooding occurred across far northern Oklahoma (Kay County) during the evening of the 27th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.1100, -97.1990)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1175697. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.