EF1 tornado in Cherokee County, Oklahoma

This is the first segment of a four-segment tornado. The tornado developed southwest of Tenkiller and moved northeast, crossing into Adair County north of Caney Creek and south of the E 813 Road. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted in its path, and outbuildings were destroyed. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 100 to 110 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.