Lawton, OK Tornado History — 138 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Lawton, OK had?
Lawton has had 138 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 8 violent (EF3+) tornadoes.
When was the most recent tornado near Lawton?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Lawton was an EF0 on May 2, 2025.
When is tornado season in Lawton?
May is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Lawton, with 62 on record. Spring through early summer (April–June) generally sees the highest activity across most of the central and southern United States.
At a Glance
Recent Tornado Activity Near Lawton
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 37 total, averaging 1.9 per year over this window.
Tornadoes by Decade
Tornadoes by Enhanced Fujita Rating
F0–F5 ratings (pre-2007) are grouped with their EF equivalents. The Enhanced Fujita scale replaced the original Fujita scale in February 2007.
Tornadoes by Month
Casualties on Record Near Lawton
11 fatalities have been recorded within 25 miles of Lawton since 1950, across 4 events. 145 injuries have been reported across all events. 1979 was the deadliest year on record.
The deadliest single event was a F4 on May 24, 1957, which caused 4 fatalities along a 21.6-mile track.
Notable Tornadoes Near Lawton
About Tornadoes in Lawton
This overview was written August 10, 2026. The tornado counts and notable-event figures elsewhere on this page reflect the latest data and may differ from this summary.
Four people died and five were injured on May 24, 1957, when an F4 tornado carved a 21.6-mile track through the Lawton area. That storm formed in an environment familiar to southwest Oklahoma: moisture from the Gulf of Mexico pooling east of the dryline, which sharpens above the high plains to the west, while strong jet-stream winds aloft tilt and rotate the updrafts of spring supercells. The terrain around the Wichita Mountains does little to disrupt these storms, and the NOAA Storm Prediction Center, whose severe-weather archive underlies the event list elsewhere on this page, treats this part of the state as classic springtime supercell country.
The record here reaches across generations. Grandparents may remember May 1, 1954, when an F3 killed three people near town; their children grew up with April 17, 1976, when an F4 tracked 32.9 miles, and with April 10, 1979, when an F3 killed three residents and injured 100 while a separate F2 that same day ran 74.1 miles. A later generation watched an F3 strike during the outbreak of May 3, 1999. The story carries into the present, too: an EF0 touched down nearby on May 2, 2025. Each era of Lawton's history has added its own dates to the same long ledger.