SPC Stats
Path length: 67.5 miles
Width: 440 yards
Fatalities: 2
Injuries: 6
Rating: F4
County: Cleveland, Pottawatomie, Seminole, Hughes
Tornado Path
Click Map To Enlarge
SPC coordinates: Start: 34.95 / -97.25 End: 35.28 / -96.15
Note: Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.
An estimated F4 tornado tracked a good 65 miles through parts of Central Oklahoma on September 14, 1957. All of our sources have the tornado developing in the Wayne, OK area near the McClain/Cleveland County line. It moved along a skipping path. In southern Cleveland County, three barns were destroyed, and crops were flattened. Some of the worst damage was along a seven mile stretch in SE Pottawatomie County and into SW Seminole County. Two people were killed and six injured along this stretch. Three homes were completely leveled. There was extensive damage to oil field equipment. Eight rigs were destroyed. The official path ends in Hughes County near Wetumka. The NWS Norman mentions that damage here may not have been related to this tornado. There could have been another tornado OR it was straight-line wind damage. You will see in the discrepancies area at the bottom of the page that there are differing opinions on which counties to officially include in the path of this tornado.
Here is a snippet from the Daily Oklahoman from September 15, 1957, talking about the couple killed in the tornado:
Newspaper Clippings
Discrepancies:
We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases, the September 1957 Climatological Data National Summary (CDNS), a summary from the NWS Norman and Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes and found the following differences:
Path Length:
- SPC/NCDC have a 67.5 mile path length.
- CDNS has a 70 mile path.
- The NWS have a 68 mile path.
- Grazulis has a 30 mile path.
Width:
- SPC/NCDC and NWS have a 440 yard width.
- CDNS and Grazulis have an 800 yard width.
Counties:
- SPC and NWS have Cleveland, Pottawatomie, Seminole and Hughes Counties in the path.
- In the NWS summary though, they say they tornado formed NW of Wayne in McClain County.
- NCDC has no Hughes County listing.
- CDNS has McClain in the locations area.
- Grazulis includes MClain but not Hughes.
- The SPC starting lat/lon place a point near the McClain/Cleveland County line.
Sources:
September 1957 Climatological Data National Summary
Killer Tornadoes in Oklahoma (1950-Present) via NWS Norman
Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. Page 1011.
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