Severe Storm Brings Hail, Damaging Winds In Northern Oklahoma

Staff and Wire Reports

OKLAHOMA CITY – A severe thunderstorm brought hail, heavy rain and damaging winds in northern Oklahoma. Ponca City, which received some of the worst damage, had 80 percent of its power customers out of power at one time.

Power has been restored to many of those customers, and the rest will hopefully have power sometime Saturday, according to Paula Cain, Emergency Management Director for Ponca City.

Despite the damage, there have been no confirmed reports of a tornado, News 9 meteorologist Matt Mahler said Saturday morning.

Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for counties in northwestern and north-central Oklahoma. The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for over 20 counties in Oklahoma that remained in effect until 1 a.m. Saturday. Cities included in the watch were Alva, Anadarko, Bartlesville, El Reno, Enid, Clinton, Guthrie, Perry, Ponca City, Stillwater and Woodward.

The worst damage was in Kay County, Mahler said. The north side of Ponca City saw overturned trailers as well as downed power lines. An industrial park received significant damage. Top wind speed recorded was 94 mph. 

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Quarter size hail was reported in Enid and Garber. A storm tracker spotted a possible tornado Friday night near Kildare, just south of Newkirk. While a tornado has not been confirmed, storms did produce a 70-mph wind gust near Newkirk, No damage was reported.

Hail measuring 1 inch to 1.75 inches in diameter was reported in other area as the storm moved northeast.

After a warm and breezy day on Saturday another round of quick moving storms is possible early Sunday. Fire conditions will likely peak during the day Sunday as the dryline surges east and very gusty winds overtake Oklahoma. Windy weather and relatively little rainfall will remain through next week.

News 9 has a crew en route to the scene. Keep checking back to this story for more information.