A vigorous upper level low pressure system moved out of the Texas Hill Country and into the Southern Plains/Lower Mississippi Valley during the late evening hours of November 21st and the predawn hours of November 22nd. but moisture and shear was significant enough for the development of strong to severe thunderstorms across the region.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS SHV wrote it up.
A vigorous upper level low pressure system moved out of the Texas Hill Country and into the Southern Plains/Lower Mississippi Valley during the late evening hours of November 21st and the predawn hours of November 22nd. This storm system was not associated with a frontal boundary...but moisture and shear was significant enough for the development of strong to severe thunderstorms across the region. A tornado also touched down across Southwest Arkansas as low level shear was maximized by the development of a low pressure center at the surface.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 21, 2:47 PM CST, 6 hours 24 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 247 PM CST MON NOV 21 2011 .DISCUSSION... FRONTAL BOUNDARY LIFTING NORTH THIS AFTERNOON...CURRENTLY ALONG A LINE FROM TYLER TEXAS TO LITTLE ROCK ARKANSAS. CONVERGENCE ALONG THE BOUNDARY HAS RESULTED IN A LINEAR BAND OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS FROM PARIS TEXAS TO TEXARKANA AND CAMDEN ARKANSAS. A SURFACE LOW IS FORECAST TO DEEPEN ACROSS CENTRAL TEXAS LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND STREAM NORTHEAST ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY OVERNIGHT. THIS LOW...COMBINED WITH AN UPPER-LEVEL SHORTWAVE WILL COINCIDE TO PRODUCE THE POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH DAYBREAK. ENHANCED UPPER-LEVEL SHEAR AND STEEP MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES WILL PROVIDE SUFFICIENT INSTABILITY TO PRODUCE AN ENHANCED TORNADO AND HAIL THREAT ALONG THE INTERSTATE 30 CORRIDOR. AS THE COLD FRONT SURGES ACROSS THE REGION...DAMAGING WINDS COULD BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE FOUR STATE REGION. FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXITS THE REGION ON TUESDAY...ALLOWING FOR COOLER AND DRIER CONDITIONS AREAWIDE WITH OVERNIGHT LOWS RANGING FROM UPPER 30S TO UPPER 40S AND HIGHS IN THE 70S THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. A SECOND FRONTAL SYSTEM FORECAST TO PUSH THROUGH THE REGION DURING THE WEEKEND ALLOWING FOR ANOTHER CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WITH 1000-500 MB THICKNESS VALUES AROUND 530 DAM ON SUNDAY NIGHT...THE REGION COULD EXPERIENCE ITS FIRST SIGNIFICANT FREEZE FOR THE SEASON. /05/ && .AVIATION... CONTINUING GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT TO VFR EXPECTED THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BRING TEMPORARY LOWER FLIGHT CONDITIONS...MAINLY ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 30 INTO THE EARLY EVENING. AFTER 06Z...CEILINGS LOWERING AGAIN TO LOW MVFR AND IFR AREA WIDE. ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE INTO THE FOUR STATE REGION TONIGHT...SPREADING EAST ACROSS NORTHEAST TEXAS...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AFTER 06Z AND INTO SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS AND NORTH LOUISIANA AFTER 10Z TUESDAY. THE STORMS WILL BRING HAZARDOUS FLIGHT CONDITIONS WITH STRONG WINDS AND EXTREME TURBULENCE. SURFACE WINDS WILL BE DETERMINED BY A COLD FRONT ACROSS NORTHERN PORTIONS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON...BUT WITH THE FRONT CONTINUING TO MOVE NORTH...WINDS WILL BECOME SOUTH ALL AREAS UP TO 10 KTS BY EARLY EVENING. WINDS WILL SHIFT BACK TO NORTHWEST DURING THE AFTERNOON TUESDAY AFTER FRONTAL PASSAGE. /14/ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... SHV 66 74 48 68 46 / 60 70 10 0 0 MLU 65 77 51 67 43 / 20 80 20 0 0 DEQ 60 66 42 65 40 / 100 40 10 0 0 TXK 62 69 45 65 43 / 80 60 10 0 0 ELD 66 74 46 65 41 / 60 80 10 0 0 TYR 64 70 45 67 45 / 80 60 10 0 0 GGG 67 73 45 67 44 / 70 70 10 0 0 LFK 69 78 48 70 45 / 30 80 10 0 0 && .SHV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. LA...NONE. OK...NONE. TX...NONE. && 05/14
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1146 AM CST MON NOV 21 2011 ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077- TXZ096-097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-221800- SEVIER-HOWARD-LITTLE RIVER-HEMPSTEAD-NEVADA-MILLER-LAFAYETTE- COLUMBIA-UNION AR-CADDO-BOSSIER-WEBSTER-CLAIBORNE-LINCOLN- UNION LA-DE SOTO-RED RIVER-BIENVILLE-JACKSON-OUACHITA-SABINE LA- NATCHITOCHES-WINN-GRANT-CALDWELL-LA SALLE-MCCURTAIN-BOWIE- FRANKLIN-TITUS-CAMP-MORRIS-CASS-WOOD-UPSHUR-MARION-SMITH-GREGG- HARRISON-CHEROKEE-RUSK-PANOLA-NACOGDOCHES-SHELBY-ANGELINA- SAN AUGUSTINE-SABINE TX- 1146 AM CST MON NOV 21 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL ARKANSAS...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA... NORTHWEST LOUISIANA...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...EAST TEXAS AND NORTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... A FRONTAL BOUNDARY STALLED ACROSS THE REGION WILL REMAIN THE FOCUS FOR STRONG TO POSSIBLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT. HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREAT ALONG WITH DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...AND THE POSSIBILITY OF TORNADOES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... THE THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER CONTINUES ACROSS NORTH LOUISIANA AND SOUTHERN ARKANSAS ON TUESDAY MORNING AS THE COLD FRONT MIGRATES EAST ACROSS THE REGION. HEAVY RAINFALL...DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL... AND ISOLATED TORNADOES...ARE ALL POSSIBLE. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL QUICKLY BEGIN TO DIMINISH BY AFTERNOON. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED TONIGHT. 05
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
754 PM CST MON NOV 21 2011
OKZ077-220300-
MCCURTAIN-
754 PM CST MON NOV 21 2011
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER ADVISORY...EFFECTIVE UNTIL 900 PM CST...FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTY...
IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...
MCCURTAIN...
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
BATTIEST...BEACHTON...BETHEL...HOCHATOWN...MOUNT HERMAN...
PICKENS...PLUNKETVILLE...SHERWOOD...SMITHVILLE AND WATSON...
AT 753 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS WERE
DETECTING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 16 MILES SOUTHWEST OF OCTAVIA...OR 27
MILES SOUTHEAST OF CLAYTON...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.
PENNY SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS 40 TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS
STORM.
24PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
851 PM CST MON NOV 21 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0842 PM TSTM WND GST IDABEL 33.90N 94.82W
11/21/2011 E70 MPH MCCURTAIN OK TRAINED SPOTTER
TRAINED SPOTTER ESTIMATED WINDS AT 70 MPH. HAIL WAS ALSO
OCCURRING WITH HEAVY RAINFALL. SIZE UNDETERMINED AT THIS
TIME.
&&
25The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 150 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:10 UTC.
2 tornado, 1 lightning, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a home in Horatio, Arkansas, burning it to the ground. There were no reports of injuries.
The tornado touched down southwest of Horatio, Arkansas, just west of Hwy. 41 where numerous trees were snapped. The tornado crossed Hwy. 41, snapping additional trees and ripping shingles off of the roof of a home. The tornado continued northeast, finally lifting on the east side of the Little River in Sevier County, Arkansas. Maximum winds were estimated at 70-75 mph.
This tornado was a continuation of the tornado that first touched down in Little River County, Arkansas. The tornado first touched down southwest of Horatio, Arkansas just west of Hwy. 41 where numerous trees were snapped. The tornado crossed Hwy. 41, snapping additional trees and ripping shingles off of the roof of a home. The tornado continued northeast, finally lifting on the east side of the Little River into Sevier County, Arkansas. Maximum winds were estimated at 70-75 mph.
A measured 58 mph wind gust was recorded at the Dequeen, Arkansas ASOS located at the Dequeen Airport.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Arkansas, 2011Warnings in Arkansas, November 2011
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 349522, 349525, 349528, 349529.