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EF2 tornado in McClain County, Oklahoma

Tornado January 8, 2026 · McClain County, Oklahoma

EF2

Rating

9.4 mi

Whole path

150 yd

Path width

$410K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through McClain County → Cleveland County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado developed near 180th Street and Ladd Road southwest of Purcell and moved northeast. One home about 3 miles southwest of Purcell had the roof removed. A semi on Interstate 35 just west of Purcell was pushed over injuring one person. The tornado then moved through Purcell causing roof damage to a few homes and damaging utility poles and trees. Moving out of the northeast side of Purcell, the tornado crossed the Canadian River into Cleveland County.

The wider storm

A fast-moving quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) swept across portions of central, southern and eastern Oklahoma on the morning of the 8th. This convective system was tied to the passage of a compact upper wave across the region, resulting in very strong wind fields within a weakly unstable boundary layer. In addition to sporadic pockets of thunderstorm wind damage, and generally sub-severe hail, a few tornadoes occurred in a corridor from near Purcell, OK to Shawnee, OK.

Began near Purcell (34.9670, -97.4430).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Cleveland County EF1 Pottawatomie County EF0 Cleveland County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1311609. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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