75
Recorded events
1
Direct deaths
14
Direct injuries
$33.8M
Property damage
Tornado in Beckham County, Oklahoma: 75 recorded events between 1950 and 2023. The strongest on record measured F3. That places the county #135 nationally and #25 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Beckham County, Oklahoma: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Beckham County is the 1980s, when 13 of the county's 75 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Beckham County archive, tornado makes up 9.4% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #135 for this hazard and #25 within Oklahoma, putting it in the 95.4 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
May is the peak month for tornado in Beckham County with 32 recorded events, while Jan is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955-05-25 | EF4 | 45.1 mi | 1,100 yd | Crossed in |
| 2007-05-05 | EF3 | 2.5 mi | 150 yd | Touched down here |
| 2007-05-05 | EF3 | 5.2 mi | 150 yd | Touched down here |
| 2001-10-09 | EF3 | 11.5 mi | 600 yd | Touched down here |
| 1977-05-16 | EF3 | 6.5 mi | 800 yd | Touched down here |
| 1977-05-16 | EF3 | 18.2 mi | 1,320 yd | Touched down here |
| 1962-04-26 | EF3 | 3.6 mi | 300 yd | Touched down here |
| 2017-05-16 | EF2 | 18.0 mi | 1,000 yd | Touched down here |
| 1982-05-16 | EF2 | 0.5 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 1968-04-02 | EF2 | 1.4 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 16, 2017 | CARTER | EF2 | 1 | 10 | $25.0M |
| May 6, 2007 | ERICK | EF3 | 0 | 1 | $5.0M |
| Apr 15, 2003 | MAYFIELD | F1 | 0 | 1 | $1.0M |
| Apr 25, 1980 | F1 | 0 | 1 | $250K | |
| May 5, 1959 | F2 | 0 | 1 | $3K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 27, 2023 | ERICK | EF1 | $75K |
| Dec 13, 2022 | ERICK | EFU | $0 |
| Oct 12, 2021 | RETROP | EF0 | $0 |
| May 26, 2019 | RETROP | EFU | $0 |
| May 8, 2019 | CARTER | EFU | $0 |
| May 8, 2019 | TEXOLA | EFU | $0 |
| May 26, 2018 | SWEETWATER | EF0 | $0 |
| May 16, 2017 | CARTER | EF2 | $25.0M |
| May 16, 2017 | ERICK | EFU | $0 |
| May 16, 2017 | ERICK | EFU | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Beckham County
- Hail 437
- Thunderstorm Wind 256
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A tornado moved from 2 miles SSW to 0.5 miles SSE of Sweetwater causing major damage to portions of the Sweetwater school. A man received minor injuries when the trailer he was in rolled before coming to rest next to a fence. Several fence posts that had been cemented into the ground at the baseball field were uprooted and a forty foot by forty foot barn was destroyed.
A tornado was observed crossing State Highway 30 to the southwest of Erick. The tornado moved east-northeast and then northeast to the south and southeast of Erick. The Erick Fire Department observed damage to trees and a barn on E 1280 Road. As the tornado moved northeast, another barn was destroyed, and damage was observed to power poles and a pivot irrigator.
This tornado was observed by the Elk City Fire Dept., near Highway 34, in northeast Beckham County. A sw-ne oriented, anchored mobile home was blown 50 yards northward with only the foundation remaining. A 16 foot stock trailer, oriented n-s, was twisted 180 degrees, and barns were destroyed.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Beckham County, Oklahoma?
75 tornado events are recorded in Beckham County between 1950 and 2023, causing 1 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Beckham County?
The strongest tornado on record in Beckham County measured F3.
Where does the tornado data for Beckham County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Tornado in Beckham County, Oklahoma.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/oklahoma/beckham-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.