The National Weather Service in Tulsa said a tornado that caused damage in southern Pittsburg County on May 19 was given a preliminary rating of EF-2, with damage surveys continuing before a final rating is issued.
In a public information statement issued Wednesday night, the tornado was “large and strong” as it moved across southern Pittsburg County, and the damage survey was “complex and will take several more days.”
“The primary tornado likely handed off to another, a process where the first tornado dissipates and a second quickly forms nearby,” NWS Tulsa meteorologists wrote. “Additionally, at least one small tornado appears to have occurred just to the north of the larger tornado and some minutes after the large tornado.”
NWS Tulsa said they were working with the NWS office in Norman to determine the exact starting point of the tornado.
“It is also not yet clear if the larger tornado formed near Highway 69 in Atoka County and intensified minutes later, or if the larger tornado formed in Pittsburg County. This being coordinated with WFO Norman,” the statement said. “Regardless of the initial formation, damage from the larger tornado was more defined approximately 3 miles southwest of the town of Pittsburg.”
Meteorologists said the tornado was more than a mile wide at one point and said damage surveys will continue through Thursday and that depending on findings, the rating could increase by one.
Other locations in southern Pittsburg County into Western Latimer County will be surveyed in the coming days.