Oklahoma May Have a Second Active Severe Weather Season This Fall

Oklahoma had an extremely active severe weather season this past spring. The state saw over 100 tornadoes from January through mid-July. And Oklahoma is expected to have a second active severe weather season this upcoming fall.

The National Weather Service in Norman has been keeping track of the 2024 tornado data for Oklahoma. They have confirmed 110 tornadoes for Oklahoma from January through July. This includes two EF4 tornadoes, four EF3, six EF2, 56 EF1, 27 EF0 and 15 EFU (unknown rating).

@weatherchannel Horrific scenes in this northeastern Oklahoma town following a large tornado. #Oklahoma #OKwx #tornado #damage #aftermath #storm #weather #weathertok #news #fyp #foryou ♬ original sound - The Weather Channel

Fall is a second tornado season for Oklahoma.

Although Oklahoma can have tornadoes anytime of the year, spring is often the main time of year when we see frequent tornadoes. But fall is also a prime season for tornadoes in Oklahoma. This year, Oklahoma is expected to have a second active severe weather season this fall, which includes increased tornadoes.

AccuWeather recently released its fall forecast and is predicting that this year's tropical storm season will fuel an active serve weather season for the plains in the fall. The reason being is because "fall features a second severe weather season as waves of cold air begin to dive southward, clashing with the warm and humid air entrenched across most of the central and eastern portions of the nation."

The United States has seen a total of 1,400 tornadoes this year already, which, according to AccuWeather, is "higher than the historical average for the entire year." So an increase in tropical storms and hurricanes may increase the nation's tornado count this fall.

This year has already been a highly active hurricane season.

In May, the NOAA predicted that there would be an active tropical storm season due to a La Nina and warmer-than-average ocean temperatures. Then on August 8, the NOAA stated that the highly-active hurricane season is likely to continue in the Atlantic.

Hurricane season lasts from July 1 through November 30, so far there have been four hurricanes: Alberto, Beryl, Chris and Debby. As of August 14, the current hurricane, Ernesto, has been ranked a category one hurricane. These storms have already had significant impacts:

• Tropical Storm Alberto brought in nearly a foot of rain to parts of Texas and New Mexico.
• Hurricane Beryl became the "earliest category-5 storm on record in the Atlantic basin" and caused catastrophic damage and deaths in the Caribbean, Texas, Louisiana and Vermont. Beryl was also a "prolific tornado-producing hurricane."

@accuweather Raging floodwaters caused by torrential rainfall from Debby washed away homes in Canisteo, New York, on Friday. #newyork #canisteo #flooding #debby #rain #weather #news #usnews #accuweather ♬ original sound - AccuWeather

Damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes expected this fall in Oklahoma.

Because of the highly-active hurricane season, meteorologists are expecting this to impact fall severe weather, specifically in September and October for Oklahoma. These severe storms are expected to produce damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes.

Oklahoma has been known to produce a record number of tornadoes in October. In 2021, during a La Nina, Oklahoma recorded 28 tornadoes. The previous record was from October of 1998 with 27 tornadoes. Since 1950, Oklahoma has seen a total of 195 tornadoes in October. Comparing this year's tornado season to 2021, the hurricane season that year was the third-most active hurricane season on record, producing 21 named storms.