Oklahoma State Parks

[garmp]

DW & I were half planning our mid year trip for 2021 and she suggested Oklahoma as we have never really spent much time in that state. Then I looked at the weather history and they average over 57 tornadoes a year. (link) That's better than one a week average, granted they do not occur every week.
Question is which month do you feel is the safest? And what part of the state? We were thinking late July of maybe early August. Also which is your favorite state park?
thanks

[Edd505]

Love Red Rock Canyon SP. Steep in/out and it's best to have someone walk ahead, it's too narrow to meat someone going the other way.

[rexlion]

pigman1 wrote:
A neat place, but watch the weather. Sister in law lives just outside Tulsa. One year we visited and was fishing in short sleeves mid 70's weather. That night it hit 20 and I almost couldn't get the frozen water hose off the hydrant in the morning. Stiff as a board. We got out and that night they had 7" of snow. Again, nice, but watch the weather closely

Shucks, OK doesn't have any monopoly on wild temperature swings. I experienced the same thing while camping in Michigan on a Sept. weekend. 73 and sunny at noon, then it started raining, then blowing and sleeting. Tents were getting knocked over. It hit a low of 19 overnight. :E

[NEOK]

I was born and raised in Oklahoma, always lived around the vicinity of Tulsa for 74 years. Tornadoes can occur anytime of the year and seem to be occuring with more frequency in many states. As others have stated it's a good idea to have a weather radio that will broadcast an alert, know what county you are in and what towns are close by. Also be aware of any Park or local storm shelters. Remember there are far more days without tornadoes than with them. There is less chance of severe weather in July and August but the heat and humidity can be uncomfortable. Late September and October are more pleasant. Our favorite state park is Broken How but it can be crowded. For a quiet park but a little isolated try Osage Hills state park

[DogTrainer]

Hot in the summer, hope you have dual AC Units.

[Bob806]

We've enjoyed our Oklahoma SP visits at Lake Wister, Roman Nose, Sequoyah, & Beavers Bend. Lake Murray SP is the best we've been too.

We have always visited in the fall, no tornado problems at all but a siren went off at Sequoyah one afternoon. I'd like to Black Mesa SP and the Wichita Mts Wildlife Refuge someday.

[TexasShadow]

As stated, avoid OK during the months of May and June, and I'd throw in April, too, because it is getting warmer, so the weather patterns will be shifty.
It will be hot in July and August, so you will need a/c.
The eastern third of OK is the greenest and wettest (lakes)

[pigman1]

A neat place, but watch the weather. Sister in law lives just outside Tulsa. One year we visited and was fishing in short sleeves mid 70's weather. That night it hit 20 and I almost couldn't get the frozen water hose off the hydrant in the morning. Stiff as a board. We got out and that night they had 7" of snow. Again, nice, but watch the weather closely

[dedmiston]

Kind of off topic (or very off topic), but I have a July birthday and our family never celebrated it in the same place twice because we were always traveling.

One year when I was turning eight, we stopped in the middle of nowhere in OK to have a little party for me. I don't know where it was, but we had made two stops that morning: one at a lonely cemetery where my mom found the grave of some distant relative and she stood there and cried cried (that was the first time I can recall dad taking us boys aside and advising us to "just let mom do her thing for a little while") and another at a grocery store for party supplies. When we stopped for my "party", we cut up the Sara Lee cake that mom had bought and I opened some awesome presents that they picked up a few days earlier at a western shop in New Mexico.

The thing that stands out the most in my mind was just how windy it was. Mom had picked up some of those trick candles that you can't blow out (which was a quirky diversion from mom & dad's typical m.o.) and it was so windy that they never could get the trick candles lit. The trick was on them.

It's a pleasant memory and none of us were instantaneously killed by twisters when we crossed the state lines, so I suppose we cheated death by many accounts.

[BB_TX]

garmp wrote:
DW & I were half planning our mid year trip for 2021 and she suggested Oklahoma as we have never really spent much time in that state. Then I looked at the weather history and they average over 57 tornadoes a year. (link) That's better than one a week average, granted they do not occur every week.
.................

Missouri is not too far behind OK in number of tornadoes. And other nearby states also have a lot of tornadoes. But how much do you worry about them there? A tornado is typically short lived, narrow, and do not stay on the ground very long. There are exceptions of course. The odds of being under one is remote, but that is not much consolation if you happen to be there.

I have lived in north Texas all my life, 74 years. Our house was hit by a tornado in 1948 when I was 2. None have hit our town since that I am aware of. And I have actually only seen 2 tornadoes in my lifetime. Something to be aware of, but not paranoid about. A good weather radio, keeping up with weather forecasts, watching radar on a phone app, and asking in advance at the RV park where the closest shelter or safe place is and you will be OK.

There are an average of around 36,000 traffic deaths in the US each year. There are an average of around 60 tornado deaths in the US each year. You are in far more danger on the highway than due to a tornado.

https://www.weather.gov/cae/lgaverages.html

https://www.tornadoalleyarmor.com/locations/dallas/texas-tornado-facts

[valhalla360]

Keep in mind, tornadoes impact a tiny area compared to something like a hurricane, so even though there are more of them, the odds of being caught in one are slim. Sure you will see pictures of tornado damage but what you won't see is the many thousands of times more areas where a tornado didn't hit.

That doesn't mean you don't pay attention but I wouldn't panic over the idea there might be one. I would make sure you have coverage for hail. While unlikely to be dangerous, far more likely to cause damage to the RV.

[Horsedoc]

Spent a week crossing Oklahoma one day! Fought a wind from the South all day long. Amarillo to Ft Smith. Fuel, food and bathroom breaks, it never let up.
Big country there. I don't do long hauls now that I have reached "senior" status.

[rexlion]

We moved from MI to OK nearly 30 years ago. For summer camping, OK is too hot for my taste. Shoulder seasons are better. Mid-March through April can be pretty good, and fall (Sept 20 to mid November) is even better camping weather. Peak tornado time is May, but honestly a person can find himself in severe weather just about anywhere in the country, just about any time of year. Bad weather happens. Even when a big storm spawns a series of tornadoes, the tornadoes are only affecting a tiny percentage of the state's total land area; it's sort of like being struck by lightning to be hit by a tornado. And OK doesn't have a monopoly on them, either; we hear of tornadoes tearing up places in many other states.

As for state parks, Red Rock Canyon might be the most unusual due to the reddish canyon walls surrounding the CG. Robbers Cave, Osage, and Greenleaf are some other nice ones. Don't write off the COE CGs, though, because OK has some nice ones of those. I camped twice this year at Flat Rock Creek.

[Tal_IL]

I grew up along the KS-OK border. I remember as a kid standing on the front porch watching tornados off in the distance. In 2013 a tornado struck the Oklahoma Trap & Skeet grounds during the state trap championships. The area was cleared as it approached, so no injuries, but many campers and the club buildings destroyed. Pic is remains of a Class A

[agesilaus]

Away from the tornado season, we had the same idea this summer and spent at least two weeks jumping from COE park to COE park in OK. The state has a lot of them. We enjoyed it but found the roads to be about a 4 on a 10 scale. I looked at their SP but we did not end up going to any of them. Some look very good.