The 2024 Woodward, Oklahoma tornado was a long-tracked, deadly, and particularly violent multiple-vortex tornado which struck areas of northwestern Oklahoma, primarily the city of Woodward, late in the afternoon of Friday, May 31, 2024. The tornado touched down at 4:32 PM CDT to the southwest of Shattuck in Ellis County, then tracked mostly east, reaching EF5 strength as it cut through Woodward at 5:26 PM. Continuing into Woods County, the tornado weakened fairly rapidly, dissipating just inside the Waynoka city limits at 6:08 PM.
The tornado remained on the ground for 1 hour and 36 minutes over a 64.10-mile path, reaching a peak width of 1.75 miles and causing a total of 35 fatalities and more than 500 injuries. The tornado received a rating of EF5, with extreme damage occurring in Woodward, where 29 of the 35 fatalities occurred. The tornado's greatest damage occurred in the southwestern portion of the city, and peak winds were estimated at 265 miles per hour. The tornado's intensity was described by the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma as "textbook EF5...as close as there is to a standard for an EF5 rating."
The Woodward tornado was the first to be rated EF5 in Oklahoma since the May 20, 2013 Moore tornado, the deadliest in the state since the May 3, 1999 Moore tornado, and the longest-tracked in the state since the May 24, 2011 El Reno tornado. The Woodward tornado was also the third-deadliest tornado of the 2024 Super Outbreak, and the first violent tornado to strike the Woodward area in 88 years. Another EF5 tornado would touch down four minutes after the Woodward tornado dissipated, and surpass the Woodward tornado in both death toll and path length. The formation of the Canadian County tornado would mark the first instance since April 27, 2011 of two EF5 tornadoes touching down in the same state on the same day.
