Make it 100 tornadoes in Oklahoma so far this year.
The National Weather Service issued a report showing there were at least 43 tornadoes during May after 55 were recorded in April. Two tornadoes were reported in March.
The storms also resulted in four more fatalities last month making a total of eight so far in 2024, not to mention hundreds of injuries. The National Weather Service indicated it received severe storm reports on 22 out of the 31 days in May. Not only did the storms produce violent tornadoes, but wind speeds of nearly 100 mph and hail larger than softballs.
The tornado deaths in May began with two fatalities on May 6 when an EF4 tornado started near Hominy and struck Barnsdall in Osage County. According to the Weather Service, it was the second EF4 tornado this year in the state following the April 27 Marietta tornado.
It was also the first tme of multiple violent EF4 or EF5 tornadoes since 2013. On May 25, two people were killed when a long-track EF3 tornado developed northeast of Owasso and moved through Claremore. The tornado reached more than a mile wide andstruck a mobile home near Pryor and killed two people and injured four others.
The Oklahoma Mesonet reported the statewide average rainfall total for May was 5.43 inches which was half an inch above normal, ranking it was the 45th wettest May since records began in 1895.
Idabel led all Mesonet sites with a total of 11.65 inches, featuring a 6.1-inch surplus. Fifty of the Mesonet’s 120 sites recorded at least 6 inches of rainfall during May, and another 27 recorded at least 5 inches. Eva had the lowest total at 1.29 inches, joining
four other sites with less than 2 inches.
Climatological spring, which runs from March 1 through May 31, ended as the 47th wettest in Oklahoma with a statewide average of 11.29 inches, matching the seasonal normal. Deficits of 2-5 inches were noted across the northwestern quarter of the state and from central through northeastern Oklahoma.
Meanwhile, widespread surpluses of 2-4 inches spread across much of southern and eastern Oklahoma. As in May, Idabel
led all sites with a spring total of 24.1 inches—8.6 inches above normal—while Eva recorded the lowest at 1.7 inches. The first five months of the year finished with 14.93 inches, 0.38 inches above normal, ranking as the 45th wettest January-May on record.