A small tornado touched down briefly just southeast of Frederick where it unroofed 2 buildings, damaged farm equipment, and injured 1 person on a golf course as it moved northwestward.

This twister was the third in a series of 20 tornadoes that occurred in Oklahoma on May 1, 1954. The tornado initiated at 4:00 pm CST, moved erratically from near the east edge of Grandfield in Tillman County northeastward to the Ahpeatone Community, 12 miles northwest of Walters in Cotton County. Two people were killed at Ahpeatone when they tried to escape the tornado in a pickup truck. The tornado caught and rolled the truck for a quarter of a mile. Ten homes  were damaged. A house and all adjacent barns were destroyed at one farmstead, and 2 people were critically injured. Damages were estimated at $500,000. The tornado was accompanied by extensive hail losses throughout Cotton County which were estimated at $1 million. An additional person drowned during a flash flood.

Although the 58 injuries are evenly split between the 2 tornadoes that hit Frederick on this date, all of the injuries should be attributed to this F3 tornado. The tornado touched down in an open field west of Frederick and moved slowly to the east, eventually hitting the town at 6:15 pm CST. The tornado caused considerable damage at the Lakeview Apartments complex and nearly destroyed the O.E. Kennedy School. As it continued to the east, it snapped off utility poles and trees, tore roofs off houses on the west side of town before plowing through several small shops at the south end of the Frederick business district. It also damaged more residential homes and struck the Central Elementary School, knocking off a portion of the west side facade and partially collapsing the school's roof.

Just before the tornado reached the eastern edge of Frederick, it severely damaged the Hallmark Rest Home and trapped 55 residents temporarily beneath the rubble. A total of 54 people were injured at the rest home according to reports from Red Cross officials. As the storm exited the town, it smashed the Tesca Baptist Church, and scattered the remnants of the church into an open field. A school bus at the church was also flipped upside down. Total damages were estimated at $2.5 million resulting from the total destruction of 35 homes and 2 mobile homes, while another 56 homes had major damage, 156 homes had minor damage, and various commercial buildings also incurred damage. Large hail occurred about 1 hour after the 2 tornadoes damaged the town. One resident in Frederick said the tornado sounded like "a million freight trains coming through."

Although 29 injuries are attributed to this F0 tornado, it is likely that the tornado did not injure anyone and it only produced light damage.

This violent tornado formed 2 miles north of Thalia in Foard County. The tornado touched down 1.5 miles southeast of the first tornado, which was still on the ground at 3:20 pm. The tornadoes traveled as a pair for 5 miles, with the second tornado continuing into Wilbarger County at about the time the first tornado ended near the Pease River.

The Wilbarger County tornado moved along and just north of Highway 70 in the Lockett area, causing heavy farm and home damage. The tornado became a killer as it crossed Highway 70 about 1 mile north of Lockett. Mrs. Cecilia Neason of Thalia died when her car was thrown about 200 yards off of the road into a pasture.

After striking the Lockett area, the tornado continued its northeastward movement toward Vernon. Photographs from Vernon show that the approaching tornado was very wide, appearing as a giant, boiling cloud on the ground. Tornado spotters had difficulty identifying the storm at first because of its massive size. However, tornado sirens were blown several minutes prior to the storm, an action that alerted many residents to the approaching danger. Fortunately, the tornado just missed the business district, but dealt a crippling blow to southern and eastern Vernon after entering the town at about 3:45 pm.

In southern Vernon, a multi-block residential area was destroyed, with some of the worst damage on Gordon and Atlanta Streets. At least three people were killed in their homes within this area. The tornado then moved into east Vernon where the Sands Motel, Canton cafe, a truck stop, Merchants Motor Freight, and Cardinal Equipment Building Company were all demolished. The Wilbarger Exhibit Building and the Texas Highway Department Warehouse were also destroyed.

Seven people were killed when the tornado swept a number of cars and trucks off Highway 287. The cars were nothing more than compacted masses of twisted metal after being blown off the road. After killing 10 people in Vernon and 1 in Lockett, the tornado crossed the Pease River killing a number of cows on the north bank.

After striking Vernon, Texas, the tornado moved northeast and crossed the Red River to the southwest of Davidson, Oklahoma and several miles west of the confluence point of the Pease and Red Rivers at 3:45 pm. The tornado moved east-northeast of Davidson and dissipated around 4:00 pm. At least 3 homes were destroyed with 5 more sustaining major damage. Many cattle were killed or injured. One man was injured when his car was thrown into a ditch. The tornado was on the ground in Oklahoma for a distance of 8 miles.

In its wake, the tornado left $27,000,000 in damage, with other damage coming from large hail and strong straight-line winds in the Vernon area. The tornado was on the ground for 26 miles in Texas and 11 miles in Oklahoma, with its parent thunderstorm producing three additional tornadoes in Oklahoma.

The tornado first touched down in the vicinity of Harrold, Texas at about 3:55 pm CST. One person was killed as the tornado crossed U.S. Highway 287 near Harrold. The tornado moved northeast and crossed the Red River at about 4:10 pm CST. It then began to intensify and reached maximum strength at the Grandfield Airport at about 4:30 pm CST and then crossed OK State Highway 5 west of Walters. It continued northeast and crossed U.S. Highway 281/177 about 11 miles south of the Lawton Airport. The tornado passed through the Pumpkin Center area around 5:30 pm CST and moved across OK State Highway 7, where it damaged homes on both sides of the highway.

This was a very wide tornado, and 55 miles of its of 64-mile path were traversed in Oklahoma. Large hail was reported with the storm. In the Grandfield area, it damaged or destroyed 8 homes and 4 mobile homes. The Grandfield Airport was demolished, with 8 planes being destroyed and 1 damaged. Near Grandfield, 1 man was seriously injured when he tried to outrun the tornado but was overtaken. Two additional injuries were reported in the area.

Northwest of Walters, 4 houses and 1 mobile home were destroyed and 4 other homes were damaged. A grain elevator was demolished on OK State Highway 5, and another was destroyed near Hulen. In the Pumpkin Center area, 5 homes and 8 mobile homes were destroyed. Some of these homes had been hit by a tornado on April 5, 1978.

The same parent supercell thunderstorm which had generated the tornado at Davidson, Oklahoma, moved to the east-northeast and produced a tornado which first touched down 1 mile south of Hollister. It continued east-northeast for approximately 11 miles before dissipating at 4:15 pm CST. Three houses were destroyed and others damaged. One man was injured when his home was demolished. This tornado was part of the April 10, 1979 Red River tornado outbreak.

Numerous thunderstorms formed across southwest Oklahoma the afternoon of May 4th and spread northeastward. Three tornadoes were confirmed, along with many reports of severe winds.

This brief tornado formed on the west side of Grandfield near U.S. Highway 70 and tracked northward for approximately 0.5 miles, covering a distance of 5 to 6 blocks. Two grain storage bins were destroyed. The wall of a garage was blown out. Power poles were snapped, and large trees were pulled out of the ground and laid back down within 50 feet of their original location. In addition, stadium bleachers were blown over, and a chain-linked fence was destroyed. One man was injured when he was blown out of a barn.

This tornado touched down about 4.5 miles northeast of Fargo, TX in far northern Wilbarger County and then quickly moved northeast and crossed the Red River into far southeastern Jackson County in Oklahoma. No damage was reported in either of these counties. The tornado then moved northeast into Tillman County about 9 miles south-southwest of Tipton and intensified into a violent tornado. The most severe damage occurred at the Oklahoma State University Agronomy Research Station. The buildings at the site were demolished, with most of the debris thrown into the nearby fields. The trees surrounding the site were debarked and splintered. Other damage was to the Tipton Mesonet site that took a direct hit. The wind speed maxed out at 86.4 mph before the site was demolished by flying debris. The tornado lifted about 3 miles north-northeast of Tipton.