EF2 tornado in McCurtain County, Oklahoma

A line of severe thunderstorms moved into McCurtain County, Oklahoma, late in the evening on March 10th. Circulations were embedded within this line of thunderstorms, with one of which producing an EF2 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 118 mph that began on Old Golden Highway, resulting in snapped trees and the loss of shingles to a local residence. The tornado then continued east, reaching Thomas Road near the intersection of Old Golden Highway where more trees were snapped and uprooted and a barn/shed experienced damage to the roof. The tornado then began to pick up in intensity as it moved across Oak Hill Road where numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. As the tornado then continued northeast towards Rhoden Road, it caused significant damage to a family residence, resulting in the collapse of most exterior walls and an injury to the occupant who had to be airlifted to the hospital. Trees were then uprooted and fell onto this residence, causing additional damage. Next door to this home, significant damage was found to other structures as well as additional tree damage. Just before reaching Rhoden Road, another residence was damaged, where areas of the roof were uplifted, multiple trees were snapped and uprooted, and the neighboring barn experienced significant roof damage. The tornado then moved north/northeast of the road, pushing a small outbuilding off of its foundation and snapping and uprooting more trees before lifting as it crossed Highway 3.

Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms extended from Southeast Oklahoma down across Central Texas late in the evening on March 10th, with the most organized threat area over Northeast Texas into Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas. Effective storm-relative helicity ahead of the prominent line of thunderstorms was quite favorable for low-level rotation, and instability was rather strong as well. The VAD wind profile from the Shreveport Doppler Radar indicated a very favorable hodograph for rotating storms with 0-1 km storm-relative helicity over 250 m2/s2. As a result, severe thunderstorms produced an isolated tornado and some damaging wind gusts in parts of McCurtain County just prior to midnight on March 10th.