Thunderstorm Wind in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma

A swath of significant thunderstorm wind damage continued into portions of northwestern and north-central Alfalfa County on the early morning of the 7th. Multiple residences in the community of Burlington reported tree damage, including large limbs blown down with several smaller trees uprooted. Along Oklahoma Highway 8, between the communities of Cherokee and Driftwood, a large, uprooted tree landed on a house and multiple power poles were snapped, with one landing on the corner of a mobile home. Additional damage continued along the Oklahoma Highway 11 corridor northeast of the community of Cherokee. In addition to tree damage, a metal carport was vaulted and landed on the corner of a house and the bay doors of a large metal storage building were blown in. The damage path is estimated, with additional thunderstorm wind damage likely continuing eastward through the county, on the north side of the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge. The event time is estimated from radar observations. Damage photos were relayed courtesy of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

A multi-modal episode of severe thunderstorms occurred from the late evening of the 6th through early morning of the 7th, primarily impacting areas along the north of Interstate 40. Initial severe weather was focused along a modifying warm front, lifting northward into portions of central/west-central Oklahoma. Thunderstorms in this regime produced reports of very large hail and a few severe-caliber wind gusts. Concurrently, a long-track and occasionally tornadic supercell was moving into portions of far western Oklahoma. While no tornadoes occurred across the WFO Norman Forecast Area, this thunderstorm produced large hail in Beckham County. By the early morning of the 7th, a mesoscale convective system (MCS) organized and became well-defined/mature as it swept eastward across northern Oklahoma. Widespread and locally intense thunderstorm wind damage/gusts, and two brief tornadoes, were noted across this area.