Tornado in Choctaw County, Oklahoma

Storm chasers and storm spotters observed this tornado, which developed during the life cycle of the Hugo Lake tornado from the same supercell updraft. This tornado was observed to be to the south of the other tornado. The NWS damage survey team could find no damage in the area where this tornado was suspected to be, as it was either over Lake Hugo or in the marsh land on the east side of the lake. Both areas were inaccessible, and therefore, no damage was known to exist from which a damage rating could be determined.

Severe thunderstorms developed along and ahead of a dry line across central Oklahoma during the afternoon of May 9th. The storms moved across eastern Oklahoma during the evening hours. Prior to the storms moving into the area, the atmosphere ahead of the dry line in eastern Oklahoma had become very unstable. This instability, combined with very strong wind shear associated with a strong trough of low pressure that moved into the Southern Plains from the Southern Rockies, resulted in the development of supercell thunderstorms. One of these supercells produced multiple tornadoes as it tracked along and near an outflow boundary from morning thunderstorms, which had settled across southeastern Oklahoma by the afternoon. One of the tornadoes was long-lived and damaging. In addition to the tornadoes in southeastern Oklahoma, the severe thunderstorms produced hail up to golfball size and damaging wind gusts across other portions of eastern Oklahoma.