Severe storms with tornadoes, winds and hail ripped through the central United States Wednesday, leaving at least two people dead in Oklahoma. The National Weather Service issued tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings Wednesday night in Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa, In addition to the fatalities, several injuries, destroyed homes and thousands of people without power were reported.
Intense large #tornado Cole, Oklahoma. Deployed subsonic sensor for infrasound. 4 homes damaged pic.twitter.com/bMwjuMVChM
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerAccu) April 20, 2023
7:58pm - A SIGNIFICANT TORNADO IS ONGOING NORTHEAST OF COLE. THE TORNADO'S MOTION IS ERRATIC. DO NOT ANTICIPATE THIS STORM MOTION.
IF YOU ARE WITHIN THE WARNING, TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.
THIS IS A SERIOUS SITUATION!#okwx https://t.co/gEELgij6za
— NWS Norman (@NWSNorman) April 20, 2023
One of the hardest hit areas was central Oklahoma, where several tornadoes occurred. One of them struck the communities of Shawnee and Cole. It was in the latter small town, part of McClain County and about 25 miles south of Oklahoma City, that the force of the tornado was most devastating. Across the state of Oklahoma more than 23,000 customers were without power, according to poweroutage.us.
The National Meteorological Service described the tornado's movement as "erratic" and continued to issue warnings throughout the day for various locations in the central part of the country.
Tornado Warning continues for Sully IA, Lynnville IA and Searsboro IA until 12:00 AM CDT pic.twitter.com/GWTg8UOySk
— NWS Tornado (@NWStornado) April 20, 2023
In this regard, Oklahoma was not the only state to experience adverse weather conditions Wednesday night. Kansas and Iowa also experienced severe thunderstorms and hail.
Storms this spring have spawned tornadoes in the South, Midwest and Northeast, killing dozens of people.
