F2 tornado, Jesse to Lula, Oklahoma, April 11, 2001

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F2

Date

April 11, 2001

Touchdown

4:40 AM CDT (09:40 UTC)

Path length

14.5 miles (23.3 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$520,000

Counties

Pontotoc and Coal counties

Touchdown point

34.570, -96.570

Lift-off point

34.730, -96.420

Record number

611

Six tornadoes across southern Oklahoma and one tornado across western north Texas developed during the overnight hours of the 11th. The most notable tornado formed across Coal County in Oklahoma and resulted in one fatality and one injury as it destroyed a mobile home. In addition to damage produced by severe thunderstorms, sustained winds of 40 to 50 mph with gusts as high as 73 mph developed just ahead of the most frequent period of severe weather and persisted for several hours. In Tillman County, at 2330 CST on the 10th, a barn roof was damaged 3 miles east of Frederick. A barn roof was blown off, and a fence was downed 4 miles east of Frederick, and a house roof sustained minor damage 4 miles north of Frederick. Trees and power lines were downed in Ponca City in Kay County, while in Garfield County, minor but widespread damage, was sustained to trees, power poles, and numerous other structures.

This tornado formed 2.5 miles southwest of Jesse in Pontotoc County and tracked northeastward for 15 miles, crossed through northwest Coal County, then re-entered eastern Pontotoc County before dissipating. A mobile home and barn were destroyed, and power poles were downed 1.5 miles west of Jesse. The mobile home was picked up, thrown northward over a fence and completely broken apart with contents spread over a half-mile area. About 1 mile northwest of Jesse, a barn was destroyed; oil storage tanks were overturned and smashed; an oil pumping unit was overturned and torn apart; power poles were downed, and fences were blown over.

This tornado formed in Pontotoc County and crossed into Coal County at approximately 0349 CST, then re-entered Pontotoc County at approximately 0356 CST. Nineteen power transmission towers, 3 for major trunk power lines, were downed across this area.

This is the 3rd and final segment to the tornado which formed in Pontotoc County at 0340 CST, moved through Coal County, then re-entered Pontotoc County at 0356 CST. Several additional power transmission towers were downed across this area, along with substantial damage to a power substation about 1 mile southwest of Lula.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:29 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Norman radar (KTLX), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:38 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

49 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.