Oklahoma Almost Pulled Off A Tornado-Free May… Almost

Tornado-free May is officially canceled across Oklahoma.

At the beginning of this week, we were on track to end the month of May without a single confirmed tornado, but Oklahoma weather does whatever it wants. With the very slightest chance of severe weather the last couple of days, the sky spit out one twister for sure, and possibly a second. Still waiting on confirmation of that second.

It's just such a weird year across the Sooner State. Days when we had elevated odds for twisters didn't produce any, and the two days with the lowest odds of the month each spat out one. You couldn't write this script any better.

The first tornado of May 2026.

While investigators from the National Weather Center are still looking things over, apparently a tornado touched down near Hobart on Tuesday. Every piece of evidence suggests it happened, even though the confirmation of it is slow coming.

What happened?

A home lost a portion of its roof in what were estimated to be winds over 100MPH, and as the thunderstorm that moved through the area that day didn't have that sort of intensity, a tornado is the only explanation. It wasn't seen on radar, didn't have that signature hook, and most likely only lasted a few brief seconds before disappearing again.

That was tornado number one.

The second, and confirmed tornado happened yesterday near Hugo.

Weirdly enough, it happened just about the same. No embedded hail, no severe warning, nothing to see on radar, and barely any lightning. This twister didn't even form from the most powerful cell in the localized system that day. Just popped out of a tiny little storm, spent a few moments on the ground, then lifted back into the clouds.

Tornadoes such as these are generally classified near the lowest measure of the scale, likely EF0 for both... but since the scale measures damage instead of conditions, EF1 isn't out of the question. Still on the lower end of things, and likely a best-case scenario for everyone affected.

The remainder of May.

There is still a lot of rain in the forecast for the rest of the month, but nothing is forecasted to be severe. Just rain.

All the same, yesterday wasn't supposed to be severe either, and it produced the only truly confirmed twister of the month.

It goes to show that tornadoes can happen with any rain cloud in the Oklahoma sky.

So our second-recorded tornado-free May didn't happen this year, but if we go on to end the month with only two, it's on the low end of history. 2026 will tie for the second-lowest amount of twisters for this month along with 1988 - a year that also only recorded a May total of two.