Tornadoes cause damage in Oklahoma; storms rock central US

Severe storms brought suspected tornadoes and baseball-sized hail to parts of Oklahoma, but there were no reports Monday of deaths or injuries.

The severe weather system that hit Oklahoma late Sunday also brought heavy rain, lightning and wind to parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Texas, and more stormy weather is predicted for later this week in parts of the central U.S.

Severe weather is not unusual in the Southern Plains in October, said Chuck Hodges, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa. But Sunday’s storm “was kind of more of a spring setup,” he said.

“We had unusually high moisture and a very, very strong weather system that came through,” he said.

Tornado warnings and reports of damage popped up across Oklahoma beginning Sunday afternoon, and survey crews with the weather service will head out Monday to determine how many tornadoes struck, Hodges said.

A possible tornado hit the Tulsa suburb of Coweta late Sunday causing significant damage to a high school, homes and a gas station, news outlets reported, and Coweta Public Schools classes were canceled Monday.

Building damage was also reported in Anadarko, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Oklahoma City.

Earlier, baseball-sized hail shattered windows and dented cars in Norman, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Oklahoma City.

The National Weather Service confirmed two small tornadoes touched down in rural areas of southwestern Missouri — an EF-1 twister in Newton County around 1 a.m. and an EF-0 in Jasper County around 4:45 a.m. KYTV-TV reported that a mobile home, a couple of barns and an irrigation system were damaged, but no one was hurt.

Lightning that appeared to be from the same line of storms delayed an NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and the Chiefs in Kansas City, Missouri, for about an hour Sunday night.

On Monday, severe storms were possible in parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan while another round of storms is predicted Tuesday in Kansas and Oklahoma, the Storm Prediction Center said.