F3 Tornado — Dewey, Oklahoma

2002-04-17 · near Seiling, Dewey, Oklahoma

Event narrative

This tornado formed in northern Dewey County, near Cestos, and moved northward, entering Woodward County at 2241 CST. In Dewey County, an old, abandoned farm house, constructed of wood, with broken windows and no doors, was leveled, about 2.5 miles east-southeast of Cestos. Huge cottonwood trees nearby were uprooted. A 15 ft long bus, with no engine, was lofted over a chain-link fence and dropped on its side about 50-75 ft away, and a 1/2 ton pickup trailer bed, detached from the front of the truck, was picked up and carried about 1/2 mile, and crumpled.

Wider weather episode

Numerous severe thunderstorms were observed over western Oklahoma during the afternoon and evening of the 17th and early morning of the 18th. Four tornadoes were confirmed, and there were several reports of very large hail, even one report of softball size hail (4.5 inches in diameter). The tornadoes were at night with the largest tornado, believed to be up to one mile wide, causing a maximum of F2 damage over a 34 mile path across northwest Oklahoma. Another tornado resulted in F3 damage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.1000, -99.0833)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5287606. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.