EF1 tornado in Rogers County, Oklahoma

This is the first segment of a two-segment tornado. The tornado developed just east of the Washington/Rogers County line, near the E 350 Road, where a couple trees were blown down. It moved northeast over open country before impacting the Talala Oklahoma Mesonet station, which is located just west of the S 4080 Road and south of the E 300 Road. The mesonet instruments measured 94 mph wind gusts. The tornado crossed the S 4080 Road, uprooting trees, and then crossed into Nowata County west of the S 4100 Road. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 90 to 100 mph.

Strong to severe thunderstorms developed into and across eastern Oklahoma during the late morning through afternoon of the 4th, in an unseasonably moist and unstable air mass ahead of an approaching cold front. The atmosphere became very unstable ahead of the thunderstorms. The deep-layer and low-level wind shear strengthened during the afternoon, in response to a strong storm system translating into the Southern Plains from the Southern Rockies. The combination of very unstable air and very strong wind shear resulted in the development of some supercell thunderstorms, which produced multiple tornadoes across northeast and east central Oklahoma, including a long-track significant tornado that affected Cherokee and Adair Counties before moving into Arkansas. Damaging wind gusts also occurred. Locally heavy rainfall resulted in flash flooding.