Thunderstorm Wind in Delaware County, Oklahoma

Strong thunderstorm wind uprooted trees, snapped large tree limbs, damaged the roofs of homes, blew down power lines, and destroyed outbuildings in a broad swath from west of Colcord to west of Cherokee City, AR.

Severe thunderstorms developed over western Oklahoma during the afternoon of the 25th, along a sharpening dry line, and moved east across Oklahoma through the evening and into the early morning hours of the 26th. The atmosphere east of the dry line across Oklahoma was moist and very unstable. Wind fields above the ground and deep layer wind shear strengthened during the afternoon through the early morning hours of the 26th, as an upper level disturbance translated into the Southern Plains. Additionally, low level wind shear increased late in the evening and continued very strong into the early morning hours of the 26th. These conditions were very supportive for the development of supercell thunderstorms. One of these supercells became particularly intense and long-tracked as it moved across northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas, producing multiple tornadoes, several of which were strong. Large hail to base ball size and swaths of damaging straight-line wind also occurred, resulting in considerable damage.