A powerful wind storm with widespread severe gusts of up to 110 miles per hour is expected to hit Oklahoma on Sunday evening, the National Weather Service said, adding that strong tornadoes were possible for the southern part of the state.
The storm is expected to develop into a derecho, a wind storm extending more than 240 miles with a line of fast-moving thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
It is likely to develop in the Texas panhandle Sunday afternoon, pass into northeastern Oklahoma around 9 p.m. and continue into western Arkansas after midnight, the National Weather Service said.
The Weather Service described the storm, which was anticipated to affect a large area of western, northern and northeastern Oklahoma, as posing a “moderate” risk, the second-highest ranking.
Multiple wind advisories are in effect across the state.
The southwestern part of Oklahoma had the “most favorable potential for supercell tornadoes” and likely “very large hail.”
Residents should secure loose objects and drive cautiously, the Weather Service in Tulsa advised. Tornadoes are expected to form in the mid- to late afternoon, said Bruce Thoren, a meteorologist for the Weather Service in Norman, Okla.
He suggested that residents prepare for damaging wind gusts, heed emergency warnings and anticipate potential power failures.
“Stay away from doors and windows and make sure you’re inside,” Mr. Thoren said.
Tornadoes could potentially reach the F3 rating, a classification of strong, damaging tornadoes with potential wind speeds greater than 200 m.p.h., according to the Weather Service, which added that “scattered damaging winds” could linger through Monday morning.
