1945 Antlers tornado
 The ruins of the St. Agnes Mission Church in Antlers | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | April 12, 1945, 5:30 p.m. (CST) |
| Dissipated | April 12, 1945, 6:30 p.m. (CST) |
| Duration | 1 hour |
| F5 equiv. tornado | |
| Max width | 880 yards (800 m) |
| Path length | 28 miles (45 km) |
| Highest winds | 261 to 318 mph (420 to 512 km/h) |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | 69 |
| Injuries | 353 |
| Damage | US$1.5 (equivalent to $26.83 in 2025) |
| Areas affected | Antlers, One Creek, and Nashoba in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma |
Part of the Tornado outbreak of April 12, 1945 and Tornadoes of 1945 | |
The 1945 Antlers tornado was a large, extremely violent, and deadly F5 tornado that impacted areas near the town of Antlers, Oklahoma, during the evening hours of April 12, 1945. Part of a significant tornado outbreak across the central United States, the Antlers tornado was the strongest tornado of the outbreak, as well as the strongest of 1945. The tornado killed 69 people.[1] It caused US$1.5 (equivalent to $26.83 in 2025) in damage. The tornado is the second F5 tornado recorded in Oklahoma.
Meteorological synopsis
On the afternoon of April 12, 1945, a deep, very active synoptic-scale low-pressure system exited the southern Rockies into the central plains of Kansas and Oklahoma. The cold front of this system surged eastward across the High Plains, while a dryline extended out of West Texas.[2]
In advance of these boundaries, a large region of surface low pressure ushered in warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico into the east-central and southeast regions of Oklahoma. This created conditions favorable for the development of extreme convection along the boundaries of the air masses that were in place.[2]
By mid-to-late afternoon, daytime heating combined with a very moist boundary layer to produce values of convective available potential energy (CAPE) well above average for the region. Surface dew points were likely near or just below the upper 60s to low 70s °F, an unusually warm and moist mid-April day for southeast Oklahoma.[2]
This cap, or layer of warm air near the top of the boundary layer, kept storm initiation limited to scattered breaks during the afternoon, allowing the boundary layer to maximize its instability. Convection was then enhanced rapidly as the upper-level low drew close and the cold front provided an impressive amount of lower-level mechanical forcing, quickly pushing up to the cap.[2]
A tornado formed near the Hall community around 5:30 p.m. CST. The tornado developed from the supercell, which formed a rear-flank downdraft (RFD), wrapping around the storm's intensifying low-level mesocyclone. The mesocyclone's mechanical forcing caused the tornadic circulation to tighten, enhancing the rotation at the surface. The RFD then caused the tornado to widen into a large wedge.[2]
The storm's lifting condensation level (LCL) was unusually low, due to the very high moisture content in the warm sector, allowing a large, half-mile-wide (0.8 km) condensation funnel to touch the ground. It was an F5 tornado, with the highest values of equivalent potential temperature (theta-e) air coming into the southwest edge of Antlers, as it moved northeast into the mountainous area of Pushmataha County, where it dissipated around 6:30 p.m. CST.[2]
Tornado summary
Track into Antlers
Touching down at around 5:30 p.m. near Antlers, Oklahoma, the tornado crossed the present-day route of the Indian Nation Turnpike. The tornado crossed Antlers, completely devastating a third of the town. In one neighborhood, 14 homes were destroyed with F5 strength and only one home remained. The tornado reached its maximum width here.[1] The tornado then crossed Maple Leaf Drive, Pate Road, and the E 1910 Road before leaving Antlers.
Track through Blackjack Mountain and direct hit on One Creek
The tornado sustained immense strength as it traveled southwest-to-northeast and entered Blackjack Mountain. It produced extreme ground scouring and vegetation damage; the tornado crossed Briar Branch Creek and became a waterspout for a short period of time. It then crossed the E1890 Road and Chickasaw Creek. As it approached One Creek, it reintensified to F5 strength, striking One Creek directly, and leveling barns, homes, and farmsteads. The tornado left One Creek, having fortunately caused no fatalities.[2]
Track through Wildhorse Mountain and dissipation
After devastating the two towns, it tracked through Wildhorse Mountain, dispelling the myth that tornadoes cannot occur on mountains reaching an elevation of 1,000 feet. The tornado continued to cause ground scouring across the entire mountain. After the tornado fully crossed the mountain, the vortex rapidly underwent a rope-out phase and completely dissipated before reaching the community of Nashoba, Oklahoma.[2]
Aftermath
Because the tornado devastated the town's primary medical facilities and left it without power or water, emergency triage centers were created in the few commercial buildings that had remained intact downtown. In the meantime, local doctors and surviving residents provided first aid to hundreds of people with torn muscles, deep cuts, and other injuries, working by candlelight and flashlight in the Pushmataha County Courthouse, which had been kept relatively undamaged. Later in the day, makeshift ambulances and private cars emerged from the city carrying more than one hundred patients to hospitals in Paris, Texas, and Hugo, Oklahoma, away from the storm-ravaged region. Martial law was declared by the Governor of Oklahoma, Robert S. Kerr, who sent troops of the Oklahoma National Guard to restore order and prevent looting in the ruined city. The 45th Infantry Division came the next day to help clear the state's major highways and the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway of the debris.[2]
Tent camps were set up by the American Red Cross to shelter the 1,500 residents, most of whom had lost their homes in the disaster. Isolated communities in the region had also been badly damaged. It took several years to recover and rebuild the local infrastructure, as federal assistance was limited to war-bond sales, and World War II was ending. Local lumberjacks were able to supply the community with timber from the thousands of trees that had been uprooted or snapped in Blackjack and Wildhorse mountains.[2]
The final death toll was officially recorded at 69 people within the city limits, but other sources state there were 86 people who died in the disaster, including people in nearby towns or who died of their injuries in the days after the event. President Franklin D. Roosevelt died the same day, and his passing largely overshadowed the disaster in Oklahoma.[2]
See also
- Tornado outbreak of February 12, 1945 – A violent tornado outbreak exactly two months earlier
- Tornado outbreak of April 12, 1945 – The outbreak that produced this tornado
Notes
- The tornado was retroactively rated F5, as it occurred before the Fujita scale was implemented in 1971.
- The tornado is the 34th-deadliest in United States history.
References
- 1 2 "F5/EF-5 Tornadoes in Oklahoma (1905-Present)". National Weather Service. Retrieved 2026-08-25.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "The April 12, 1945 Tornado Outbreak". National Weather Service. Retrieved 2026-08-25.
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