A violent tornado formed at the town of Vici at 11:00 pm CST on April 14th in northwestern Dewey County and moved northeastward through the southeastern part of Vici, where it damaged 50 buildings. The twister then continued through rural parts of extreme northwestern Major County and southeastern Woodward County before tracking into Woods County. In Woods County the tornado moved along a path that was south of Waynoka, northwest of Hopeton and southeast of Alva before it struck the town of Capron at 12:15 am CST during the early morning of April 15th.

After exiting Capron, the tornado continued northeastward through extreme northwestern Alfalfa County and then dissipated near Kiowa, KS in southeastern Barber County just north of the Oklahoma-Kansas state line. The storm produced damage along a track that was at least 65 miles long and possible 73 miles long. It is possible that this event was comprised of a family of tornadoes from a parent supercell thunderstorm instead of being a single, long-track tornado.

Many farm homes and other buildings were destroyed in the rural areas near Waynoka, Hopeton and Alva, as well as the entire business section of Capron. Damage reached F5 intensity in an area 5 miles south of Waynoka where most of the fatalities occurred and farmhouses were completely swept away. At least one death in this area occurred when the tornado struck an automobile. In a case of unfortunate timing, the tornado and a train arrived simultaneously at Capron, and several railroad cars were derailed. The new brick school building in Capron was a total loss, and the southeast part of that town sustained heavy damage.

A total of 7 persons were killed and another 19 were injured by the tornado, with 15 of the injuries occurring in Capron. The damage caused by this storm was estimated at $104,000.

The most deadly tornado to ever strike within the borders of the state of Oklahoma occurred on Wednesday, April 9, 1947 in the city of Woodward. The Woodward tornadic supercell thunderstorm began in the Texas Panhandle during the afternoon of April 9, 1947, and produced at least six tornadoes along a 220-mile path that stretched from White Deer, TX (northeast of Amarillo) to St. Leo, KS (west of Wichita).

While it is still officially attributed to have traveled in a single long track through 3 states, work done by Tom Grazulis of the Tornado Project, and research scientist Don Burgess indicates that a separate tornado occurred near White Deer, TX, and 4 or more tornadoes occurred near the Oklahoma state line and into Kansas. In addition, the Woodward tornado may have begun closer to Pampa, TX, but there is no corroborating evidence to confirm a damage path in the area.

What is known is that the violent tornado that struck Woodward had a confirmed path that started 3 miles northwest of Canadian, TX. The tornado moved northeast, and continued on the ground continuously for about 98 miles, before ending in Woods County, Oklahoma about 10 miles west of Alva. The tornado was massive, up to 1.8 miles wide, and traveled at forward speeds of about 50 miles per hour.

The tornado first struck Glazier and Higgins in the Texas Panhandle, devastating both towns and producing at least 69 fatalities in Texas before crossing into Oklahoma. In Ellis County, Oklahoma, the tornado did not strike any towns, passing to the southeast of Shattuck, Gage, and Fargo. Even though no towns were struck, nearly 60 farms and ranches were destroyed and 8 people were killed with 42 more injured. Moving into Woodward County, one death was reported near Tangier.

The violent tornado (F5 on the Fujita Scale) unleashed its worst destruction on Woodward, striking the city without warning at 8:42 pm CST. Over 100 city blocks on the west and north sides of the city were destroyed with lesser damage in the southeast portion of the town. Confusion and fires reigned in the aftermath with over 1000 homes and businesses destroyed, at least 107 people killed in and around Woodward, and nearly 1000 additional injuries.

Normal communications between Woodward and the outside world were not restored for some time and there was great uncertainty as to victim status. In fact, the bodies of three children were never identified, and one child who survived the tornado was lost and never reunited with her family. Help for Woodward came from many places, including units from as far away as Oklahoma City and Wichita. Beyond Woodward, the tornado lost some intensity, but still destroyed 36 homes and injured 30 people in Woods County before it dissipated. The supercell thunderstorm would produce at least another 4 tornadoes near the Oklahoma State line and in southern Kansas.

In all, at least 116 lives were lost in Oklahoma on that fateful night with another 68 deaths occurring in Texas. Never before or since has a tornado been so costly to human life in the Sooner State. Another 782 people were in Oklahoma with 198 injuries occurring in Texas. Damages were estimated at $1.5 million in Texas and $8 million in Oklahoma. The tornado destroyed 507 structures and damaged 803 more in Oklahoma. A  total of 119 structures were destroyed and another 117 were damaged in Texas.

Because of the Woodward tornado and other devastating tornadoes in the late 1940's and early 1950's, and because of new technologies available after World War II, the Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) began a tornado watch and warning program in 1953. Since then, the warning system composed of the National Weather Service, local civil preparedness agencies, and the media has continued to mature and provide better and better information to citizens to help them protect themselves from tornadoes. Because of the strengths of the warning system, tornado death tolls in Oklahoma, and nationwide, have dropped considerably with each passing decade and, hopefully, will continue to decrease.

Two sandpit workers were injured when a toolshed was overturned at a location 4 miles southwest of Waynoka. Communications and power lines were also destroyed for a half-mile stretch along the tornado's path.

At 7:05 pm CST, a tornado damaged several houses and overturned 11 box cars at Hopeton. The tornado continued northeastward and inflicted damage on 11 farms in Woods and Alfalfa counties. One woman was injured by flying debris as she tried to take shelter in a storm cellar. Property damage was estimated at $100,000.

Numerous severe thunderstorms were observed over western Oklahoma during the afternoon and evening of April 17th and early morning of April 18th. Four tornadoes were confirmed, and there were several reports of very large hail, even one report of softball size hail (4.5 inches in diameter). The tornadoes were at night with the largest tornado, believed to be up to one mile wide, causing a maximum of F2 damage over a 34-mile path across northwest Oklahoma. Another tornado resulted in F3 damage.

This tornado was captured on video by a storm chaser at 11:27 pm CST on April 17th, approximately 2 miles south of Highway 412 in northern Major County. The tornado moved northward for 4 miles before crossing the Cimarron River into Woods County. No structures were affected in Major County.

The tornado curved to the right as it crossed the Cimarron River at 11:32 pm CST on April 17th and moved northeastward for 15 miles before entering Alfalfa County at 12:05 am CST on April 18th. In Woods County, about 2 miles southwest of the intersection of State Highway 45 and the Woods County line, the roof of a trailer house was completely removed, and an exterior wall on the northeast side of the house was badly damaged and partially removed from the structure. The owner of the house received minor abrasions to his arm. Across the road from the house, a barn was unroofed, and most of the walls were destroyed. Otherwise, only tree damage was observed across Woods County.

The tornado tracked for another 15 miles in Alfalfa County before dissipating 2 miles southwest of Ingersoll. As the tornado entered Alfalfa County, damage was sustained to outbuildings, trees and power lines, along State Highway 45 to the west of Carmen. Large trees were uprooted or snapped, and a windmill was destroyed along EW 25 Road to the east of NS 253 Road, or about 4.5 miles southwest of Lambert. Along the west side of NS 255 Road, between EW 23 Road and EW 22 Road (about 2.5 miles west of Lambert), a barn roof was removed as was the west section of the barn. Numerous power poles were snapped along EW 22 Road in a ½ mile area to the east of NS 255 Road. Several high-tension power poles were damaged or destroyed west of NS 256 Road and south of EW 21 Road. Significant tree damage and a couple of destroyed outbuildings were observed at the northeast corner of EW 20 and NS 256 Roads, about 5.5 miles southwest of Cherokee. The tornado continued north-northeast with the last damage observed along EW 17 Road just east of NS 257 Road, 2 miles southwest of Ingersoll, or about 4 miles west-northwest of Cherokee.