Powerful storms bring tornadoes to Oklahoma, large hail to Kansas. Forecasts warn more is to come
OKLAHOMA CITY — Powerful storms have broken out in the central United States, bringing tornadoes to rural Oklahoma and large hail to parts of Kansas, with forecasters warning the dangerous weather could extend into the early hours of Tuesday, amid of a rare high-risk weather warning for the two states. .
“You cannot rely on waiting to see tornadoes before taking shelter tonight,” the National Weather Service said Monday.
Gusty winds and heavy rain began Monday afternoon, while tornadoes were spotted after dark along northern Oklahoma, including one that touched down about a 45-minute drive north of Tulsa. At one point, a storm in the small town of Covington “produced intermittent tornadoes for more than an hour,” according to the National Weather Service. Throughout the area, wind turbines spun rapidly in the wind and blinding rain.
In Kansas, some areas were pelted with apple-sized hail measuring 3 inches in diameter.
The storms tore through Oklahoma as areas including Sulfur and Holdenville were still recovering from a tornado that killed four people and left thousands without power late last month. Both the Plains and the Midwest have been ravaged by tornadoes this spring.
Oklahoma’s State Emergency Operations Center, which is coordinating the storm response from a bunker near the Capitol, remains activated after last weekend’s deadly storms.
The Weather Service said more than 3.4 million people, 1,614 schools and 159 hospitals in Oklahoma, parts of southern Kansas and far northern Texas faced the worst threat of tornadoes on Monday.
Monte Tucker, a farmer and rancher in the western Oklahoma town of Sweetwater, had some of his tractors and heavy equipment stored in sheds Monday to protect them from hail. He said he let his neighbors know they could come to his house if the weather turned dangerous.
“We built a house 10 years ago, and my stubborn wife put her foot down and made sure we built a safe room,” Tucker said. He said the entire ground floor room is built with reinforced concrete walls.
Bill Bunting, deputy director of the Storm Prediction Center, said a high risk warning from the center isn’t seen every day or every spring.
“It’s the highest threat level we can assign,” he said.
The last time it was issued was March 31, 2023, when a massive storm system tore through parts of the South and Midwest, including Arkansas, Illinois and rural Indiana.
The increased risk is due to an unusual coincidence: Wind gusts of up to about 75 mph (46 kph) swept through Colorado’s populated Front Range region, including the Denver area, on Monday.
The winds are caused by a low-pressure system north of Colorado that is also drawing moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, increasing the risk of severe weather on the Plains, the National Weather Service office in Denver said.
Colorado is not at risk for tornadoes or thunderstorms.
The whole week looks stormy in the US. The eastern US and the south are expected to bear the brunt of the bad weather for the rest of the week, including in Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati, cities with more than 21 million people. It should be clear at the weekend.
Meanwhile, floodwaters in the Houston area began receding Monday after days of heavy rains in southeastern Texas flooded neighborhoods and led to hundreds of high-water rescues.
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St. John reported from Detroit, Michigan, and Salter from O’Fallon, Missouri. Associated Press writers Rio Yamat in Las Vegas, Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, and Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report.
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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate solutions reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.
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