EF1 tornado in Cherokee County, Oklahoma

This tornado developed north of Burchett Road and west of Bryant Road. It moved east-southeast across the northern portion of Tahlequah, and then crossed Highway 10 and the Illinois River east of town. The tornado snapped and uprooted numerous trees along its path, some of which fell onto homes. This tornado produced a tornadic debris signature from the KINX and KSRX WSR-88Ds. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 105 to 110 mph.

Thunderstorms developed over north central and northwestern Oklahoma during the early evening of the 17th, near an outflow boundary from earlier thunderstorms, and north of a developing warm front that stretched across the area. The atmosphere ahead of the thunderstorms over eastern Oklahoma had become very unstable. The strong instability combined with strong wind fields and strong wind shear associated with an intense upper level disturbance moving through the region, resulted in a few supercells that evolved into a severe squall line that moved through the area during the mid to late evening of the 17th, and early morning of the 18th. Widespread damaging wind, multiple tornadoes, and large hail up to golf ball size occurred across northeastern Oklahoma as the storms moved through the area.