Spring-like storms rake the state
Spring-like storms rake the state

From Staff Reports

Published: January 8, 2008

National Weather Service officials will be out examining spring-like storm damage today to see if a tornado touched down near Watts.

The Adair County sheriff reported that a tornado touched down, but tornados are not official until they are confirmed by the National Weather Service.

Max Blood with the NWS in Tulsa said his office received several reports of damage in the Watts area, and will send people to assess the damage today.

The sheriff's office believed another tornado was headed toward Watts and stopped a school bus from entering town. The bus was carrying basketball players returning from a game at Stilwell.

Sheriff’s deputies have not found any damage on the main highway into Watts, and were continuing to check back roads late Monday night.

The state has not seen a tornado in January since 1975 when an F-1 strength twister hit Pittsburg County. Only 12 January tornadoes have been recorded in Oklahoma since 1950.

National Weather Service meteorologist, Ken Gallant, said that severe storms with the potential to produce tornadoes are unusual, but not unheard of, for January in Oklahoma.

“Things have to be just right to get that to happen this far north,” he said.

A cool front passing from northwest to southeast across the state was over Oklahoma City at midnight, delivering thunder and lightning and rain. Norman was reporting 65 degrees temperature while El Reno was at 48. Temperatures were in the 30s in the Woodward area and in the 20s in the Panhandle.

Still, partly sunny skies are expected in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, with a high of 51.

The front was marked by storms stretching from Lawton to east of Ponca City and into Kansas.

Oklahoma Gas and Electric's Web site reported about 9,800 Edmond customers without power aftert midnight, along with 1,300 customers in north Oklahoma City, 1,100 customers in Piedmont, 1,000 in Midwest City and several dozen customers in west Oklahoma City, Yukon, Perkins and Del City.

The weather service office in Tulsa issued its first tornado warning on Monday at 6:57 p.m. CST, and a steady stream of such warnings followed, covering parts of Cherokee, Muskogee, Adair, Delaware, McIntosh, Wagoner and Okmulgee counties.

The weather service office in Norman issued tornado warnings at various times for parts of Pontotoc, Garvin and Seminole counties in east-central Oklahoma, although meteorologist John Pike said that line of storms had not spawned any tornadoes.

Pike said emergency managers he had spoken with had reported little damage and no injuries.

Arlene Toning, owner of The Tavern in Watts, said her bar still hads power and no damage could be seen nearby. She reported calm conditions after enduring heavy rain, hail and strong winds as the storm passed through town.

"I don't know if it was a tornado but some high wind did come through," she said.

Cameron Collins, an employee at the Station II convenience store in Watts, said he could see no visible damage, and that the area sustained heavy rain and winds.

“Rains fell hard for about 15 minutes, then it just quit,” said Collins.

The storms led to tornadoes being reported at Arkansas towns Rogers, Bentonville, Hiwasee and Decatur. Mesonet stations at Porter and Haskell recorded 2.75 and 2.63 inches of rain, respectively, while Tahlequah reported 2.12 inches, Okmulgee 1.87 and Jay 1.35.

A station at Westville, near Watts, reported just .17 of an inch.

The rain is welcome considering the state has been relatively dry the past four months.

Elsewhere, nearly an inch of rain was reported at Watonga, eight-tenths of an inch at Blackwell, more than a half inch at El Reno, Weatherford, Bessie and Hinton, half an inch at Fort Cobb, and about four-tenths at Byars and Vanoss, where a storm caused the weather service to issue a tornado warning.

In the Oklahoma City area, El Reno received .58 inches, Kingfisher .39, Star Spencer .55, east Oklahoma City .46 and west Oklahoma City .34, and Guthrie .26.

Two-inch hail was reported at Tahlequah in Cherokee County, and fire and rescue workers reported flash flooding south of Peggs, also in Cherokee County. Water was reported flowing two to three feet over roads.

Flooding also was reported on streets at Weleetka in Okfuskee County, where one-inch hail was reported.

Numerous power lines and poles were reported down in Cherokee County north of Tahlequah as heavy rains, lightning and winds gusts hit extreme northeast Oklahoma.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s office confirmed in addition to down power lines several utility poles were damaged.

Quarter inch hail up to one-inch size hail and winds up to 60 mph were reported from Wagoner to Taft and through northwestern Adair, southeastern Delaware, southern Cherokee and northeastern Muskogee counties, according to the National Weather Service in Tulsa.

A tornado watch was issued by the National Weather Service for north central, north east and east central counties early in the evening, the first indication of extreme weather.

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