The tornado touched down 1.5 miles southwest of Carter and moved northeastward through the southern edge of the town before lifting 8 miles northeast of Carter. One woman was injured by flying debris.

A funnel was observed approximately 7 miles southwest of Elk City at 6:50 pm CST. It touched down briefly in the northern part of Elk City at 7:00 pm CST, where it overturned a mobile home and damaged several other mobile homes. One woman was injured by flying glass. The tornado may have been in a multiple vortex phase and a few people reported seeing several "tails". Hail to the size of golfballs was reported with the storm.

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.

An upper-level storm system moved slowly into south central Colorado during the afternoon. A dry line had become established and was located along the Oklahoma and Texas panhandle border. Also, favorable upper-level winds were rotating around the upper-level storm system, crossing the dryline over western Oklahoma. As the afternoon progressed, convergence along the dryline became maximized over this area. Thunderstorms developed during the afternoon hours and they quickly became supercells. Two of the supercells produced several tornadoes. The northern tornadic storm produced five tornadoes from southwest of Roll to just east of Arnett. The southern tornadic storm also produced five tornadoes in Oklahoma from near Sweetwater to near Sharon. Large hail was also observed. The supercells moved northeast out of Oklahoma during the late evening hours. Monetary values for the tornado damage were estimated.

This is the first tornado that occurred in Oklahoma with the southern tornadic supercell. The tornado appears to have developed 1/2 mile north of E1130 road and along Highway 30 in northern Beckham County, about 2 1/2 miles south of Sweetwater. The first evidence of a tornado was damage to an outbuilding at a gas facility on the west side of the highway along with some tree damage. The tornado moved north along and parallel to Highway 30, damaging trees, homes and some outbuildings. Damage in this area was mainly in the EF0 range.

The most significant damage occurred when the tornado struck the Sweetwater school. At this location, the tornado is estimated to have been 100-150 yards wide. The most significant damage was to a metal building that was the school's multi-purpose building, which was almost completely destroyed. The anchoring that connected the building to the foundation appeared to have failed, allowing all but the most northern section of the building to collapse. A small building that connected this building with the school's gymnasium suffered only slight damage. The gymnasium, at the northwest corner of the school, suffered substantial roof damage, which appeared to have caused the west masonry wall of the school to collapse outward.

Other damage on the school property consisted of a small storage building of similar construction as the multi-purpose building being completely destroyed, a bus barn/garage structure suffering damage when the large garage doors blew inward, and damage to trees, power lines and fences. A pickup truck, which had been parked in the school's parking lot, was rolled/tossed approximately 100 yards to the north. A horse trailer that had been near the storage building at the southwest edge of the school property was found more than one quarter mile away in a field. A man suffered minor injuries near this location.

Just north of the school, a home was damaged and an oil storage facility was also hit. An oil tank from this location was found approximately 500 yards away. Several animals were killed when a garage was destroyed. A RV was also destroyed. Numerous cars and school buses were damaged/destroyed. The damage to the multi-purpose building at the Sweetwater school is consistent with damage at the low end of the EF-3 scale. The remainder of the damage was primarily in the EF0-EF1 category. The tornado continued and crossed into Roger Mills County.

The tornado continued to produce damage as it moved north along Highway 30 into Sweetwater. The church and post office were damaged...as were several outbuildings and businesses. Damage continued for approximately 5 miles north of Sweetwater, with some substantial tree damage noted on the west side of Highway 30...and numerous power lines downed. The tornado appeared to have dissipated just south of E1040 road in southern Roger Mills County. Monetary damages were estimated.

The Elk City tornado initially developed near the North Fork of the Red River about 3 miles northwest of Carter. Damage was primarily to trees and power poles for the first few miles as it moved northeast approaching State Highway 34.

One fatality occurred on State Highway 34 (Merritt Road) south of State Highway 152 when his vehicle was impacted by the tornado. According to law enforcement, the victim had been in a mobile home, then left in his vehicle to try and find more substantial shelter. He had returned to his mobile home and it's believed he was still in the vehicle when the tornado hit.

Moving northeast, permanent homes and mobile homes were damaged, and damage continued to power poles and trees. About two miles southwest of Elk City Reservoir, persistent EF-2 damage occurred as the tornado continued northeast over Elk City Reservoir and through a neighborhood on south side of Elk City just west of State Highway 6. Numerous homes were damaged and mobile homes damaged or destroyed from southwest of Elk City Reservoir through the south side of Elk City. The tornado continued moving east- northeast out of Elk City and moved into Washita County.

Damage assessments found 66 homes destroyed (62 in Elk City) and 140 homes damaged (126 in Elk City). In addition, 3 businesses were destroyed and 5 businesses were damaged by the tornado. Damage costs are a rough estimate.