Six tornadoes, including likely EF4, rip through Oklahoma Thursday night

Video of tornadoes spiraling through Oklahoma on Thursday night showed only part of the destruction. A preliminary National Weather Service survey released Friday counted six known tornadoes from the evening of April 23 and said several were confirmed by video or photographs, with track details still subject to change as more information came in.

The hardest-hit area was Enid, where the damage was given a preliminary EF4 rating. CNN reported the tornado stayed on the ground for more than 30 minutes and left around a dozen people with minor injuries. The length of the track and the strength of the damage made Enid the clearest sign that this was not a brief spin-up but a major outbreak that tested warning systems, shelter access and local recovery plans after dark.

Other storms added to the picture of a widespread event rather than an isolated hit. The survey rated the Renfrow tornado in Grant County EFU and gave it a 2.4-mile path. In Kay County, the Braman tornado was rated EF1, with estimated peak winds of 85 mph, a 6.8-mile path and a maximum width of 600 yards. Forecasters said that storm spawned at least two satellite tornadoes, one of them seen on video, and crossed I-35 near W Fork Road, where numerous utility lines were damaged or destroyed.

Taken together, the storms showed how quickly a nighttime outbreak can spread across rural roads, highways and town centers, leaving forecasters to piece together the exact track after the fact. The preliminary nature of the survey also underscored a familiar problem in severe weather response: the first warning may come quickly, but the full picture of who was hit, how hard, and what must be rebuilt can take much longer to establish.

The timing also fit Oklahoma’s most active tornado month. The National Weather Service says the state has logged 951 tornadoes in April from 1950 to the present, and Oklahoma’s 2026 tornado count had already reached 44 by late April. For perspective, the deadliest tornado outbreak in the state came on May 24, 2011, when 12 tornadoes in the Norman forecast area included an EF5 and two EF4s and killed 116 people.