June’s severe weather story was not led by tornadoes, but by straight-line winds. A powerful derecho and several other intense storm events produced six of the Oklahoma Mesonet’s top 50 all-time wind gusts during the month, including three triple-digit readings.
May brought an abrupt slowdown in tornado activity after a historic start to 2026. The year opened with January tying its monthly tornado record, followed by a record-setting March and an active April that pushed the preliminary annual count to 57 by the end of that month. May is normally Oklahoma’s most active tornado month, averaging 32.7 tornadoes since 2000, but the month produced only two official tornadoes, both on May 27 in southeastern Oklahoma. The record fewest for May is zero, set in 2005. Another possible tornado near Hobart remained under investigation.
As a first step in the process of updating the OK-First webpage, today we transitioned to a new homepage for OK-First that better fits the theming and layout of the Mesonet webpage. If you have difficulty finding any content, please don't hesitate to reach out to us via email at okfirst@mesonet.org! Additional future changes will include an all new Member Portal section (password-protected) as well as a newly re-designed OK-First Weather Briefing Page (password-protected). Stay tuned!
Oklahoma seemingly took a detour from February straight into July during what became the warmest March on record for the state. The unusual heat arrived on the heels of both the warmest winter and February on record. The records didn’t stop there, as the state also experienced its highest March temperature on record and a record number of tornadoes. The heat combined with dry and windy conditions to intensify the state’s ongoing drought and elevate wildfire danger.
February ended as the warmest on record across Oklahoma, a distinction that also pushed the climatological winter of 2025–26 to its warmest on record. The unusual warmth combined with expanding and intensifying drought to create critical fire weather conditions across much of the state. Those ingredients culminated in a mid-February wildfire outbreak that burned more than 300 square miles and forced evacuations across multiple counties. It was a month defined by record heat, deepening drought and wind-driven flames.
January 2026 delivered a little bit of everything Oklahoma weather is known for — a rare January tornado outbreak, a major winter storm accompanied by arctic cold, and continued drought across much of the state. The month featured both destructive severe weather and prolonged freezing conditions, including one of the most impactful snow and ice events in recent memory. By month’s end, more than two-thirds of Oklahoma was in drought, even as snow cover lingered across the northern half of the state. It was a month defined by sharp contrasts and high-impact weather from start to finish.