Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2011
EF1 tornado, Jumbo to Clayton, Oklahoma, April 14, 2011
From Jumbo to Clayton, this EF1 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Pushmataha County on April 14, 2011, touching down at 8:12 PM CDT and reaching 400 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 mph
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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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.
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.
The record
- Rating
- EF1
- Date
- April 14, 2011
- Touchdown
- 8:12 PM CDT (01:12 UTC)
- Lifted
- 8:15 PM CDT (01:15 UTC)
- On the ground
- 3 minutes
- Path length
- 3.0 miles (4.8 km)
- Path width
- 400 yards (366 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- County
- Pushmataha County
- Touchdown point
- 34.442, -95.742
- Lift-off point
- 34.458, -95.693
- Record number
- 1104141912-02
The damage survey
1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.
- Numerous large trees were snapped or uprooted.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
What the Weather Service recorded
Low pressure was centered over southern Kansas during the early afternoon of the 14th with a sharp dryline extending from the low pressure system through central Oklahoma. A moist and very unstable air mass was in place across eastern Oklahoma ahead of the dryline. Severe thunderstorms developed along the dryline during the afternoon and moved into eastern Oklahoma during the early evening hours. Large hail up to grapefruit size, damaging wind gusts, and numerous tornadoes occurred as the storms moved through the region.
This is the second of two segments of this tornado, which developed in Atoka County, Oklahoma. A storm chaser witnessed a large cone-shaped tornado over open country. No known damage resulted from this tornado.
A storm chaser observed a brief tornado northwest of Jumbo that was over open country. This tornado produced no known damage.
A tornado snapped or uprooted a number of trees. Power poles were also snapped by this tornado. Maximum estimated wind in the tornado based on this damage was about 100 mph. This tornado was observed by a storm chaser.
A large tornado snapped or uprooted many large trees. Maximum estimated wind in the tornado based on this damage was about 115 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
17 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:55 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:28 UTC and running to 02:06 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19:28 UTC | 02:06 UTC | Tornado Watch | TSA |
| 00:55 UTC | 02:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | TSA |
| 01:20 UTC | 02:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA |
| 02:00 UTC | 02:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | TSA |
| 02:10 UTC | 04:44 UTC | Tornado Watch | TSA |
| 02:26 UTC | 03:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | TSA |
| 03:11 UTC | 03:48 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA |
| 03:26 UTC | 04:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | TSA |
| 03:36 UTC | 05:30 UTC | Flood Advisory | TSA |
| 03:44 UTC | 04:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA |
| 18:19 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | TSA |
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:59 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 air that afternoon
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.
Norman, OK (KOUN), 00:00Z
1.2 hours before the tornado, 176 km from the path. April 15, 2011.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -71452 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 4948 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 13 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 20 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 146 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 9.7 K/km
Norman, OK (KOUN), 12:00Z
10.8 hours after it, 176 km from the path. April 15, 2011.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -94860 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1014 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 18 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 39 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -68 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -135 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.0 K/km
The surface observations
Atoka Municipal Airport (AQR), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:20 UTC | 78.8 | 64.4 | 150° 14 kt | 20 | 998.6 | VCTS |
| 23:40 UTC | 78.8 | 66.2 | 170° 16 kt | 23 | 1000.3 | -VCTSRA |
| 23:58 UTC | 75.2 | 66.2 | 160° 7 kt | 17 | 1000 | -RA |
| 00:20 UTC | 73.4 | 68 | 40° 6 kt | 999 | TSRA | |
| 00:38 UTC | 71.6 | 68 | 340° 13 kt | 999 | +TSRA | |
| 00:58 UTC | 69.8 | 66.2 | 120° 14 kt | 30 | 998 | -TSRA |
| 01:18 UTC | 73.4 | 66.2 | 300° 9 kt | 999 | VCTS | |
| 01:38 UTC | 71.6 | 66.2 | 300° 8 kt | 999.3 | ||
| 02:03 UTC | 66.2 | 62.6 | 340° 10 kt | 21 | 1000 | -TSRA |
| 02:17 UTC | 64.4 | 60.8 | 1000.3 | TSRA | ||
| 02:40 UTC | 64.4 | 62.6 | 999 | -VCTSDZ | ||
| 02:58 UTC | 64.4 | 62.6 | 280° 11 kt | 21 | 1001.7 | -TSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 155 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:13 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:01 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 2 Ne Savanna | Pittsburg, OK | REPORTED AT THE TOLL GATE |
| 00:14 UTC | TORNADO | 6 S Bache | Pittsburg, OK | A TORNADO DAMAGED BARNS AND SNAPPED OR UPROOTED A NUMBER OF TREES. RATING WILL BE EF-1 WITH ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED ABOUT 105 MPH. THE TORNADO LIFTED ABOUT 2 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BACHE AT 725 PM. |
| 00:23 UTC | TORNADO 3 | Tushka | Atoka, OK | *** 2 FATAL *** NUMEROUS STORM CHASER AND MEDIA REPORTS THAT A LARGE TORNADO BEGAN 5 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF TUSHKA AND CONTINUED NORTHEAST THROUGH THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST PORTIONS OF ATOKA. SIGNFICANT DAMAGE OCCURRED IN |
| 00:23 UTC | TORNADO | 3 N Caney | Atoka, OK | NUMEROUS STORM CHASER AND MEDIA REPORTS OF A LARGE TORNADO WITH DAMAGE NORTH OF CANEY NEAR TUSHKA AND ATOKA. |
| 00:25 UTC | HAIL 1 | Krebs | Pittsburg, OK | |
| 01:16 UTC | TSTM WND GST 85 | 9 W Dunbar | Pushmataha, OK | WINDS ESTIMATED 85 MPH VICINITY OF TORNADO 5S DAISY ALONG INDIAN NATION TURNPIKE |
| 01:16 UTC | HAIL 4.25 | 9 W Dunbar | Pushmataha, OK | SOFTBALL AND BASEBALL HAIL REPORTED WITH TORNADO 5S DAISY ALONG INDIAN NATION TURNPIKE |
| 01:16 UTC | TORNADO | 9 W Dunbar | Pushmataha, OK | PRELIMINARY REPORT. TORNADO 5S DAISY ALONG INDIAN NATION TURNPIKE. |
| 01:51 UTC | HAIL 4.25 | 2 Nnw Clayton | Pushmataha, OK | SOFTBALL AND BASEBALL HAIL ON HIGHWAY 43 SOUTH SIDE OF SARDIS LAKE. |
| 02:08 UTC | TORNADO | 4 W Yanush | Latimer, OK | A TORNADO UPROOTED SMALL TREES AND SNAPPED LARGE BRANCHES. THE TORNADO WAS RATED EF-0 WITH MAXIMUM WINDS ABOUT 85 MPH. THE TORNADO LIFTED ABOUT 2.5 MILES NORTH-NORTHEAST OF YANUSH AT 922 PM. |
| 02:13 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 9 S Wilburton | Latimer, OK | LOTS OF HAIL OF LONG DURATION WITH GOLFBALL SIZE THE LARGEST |
| 02:17 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Yanush | Latimer, OK | TREES DOWN. POSSIBLE TORNADO. |
| 02:22 UTC | HAIL 1 | Clayton | Pushmataha, OK | NICKEL TO QUARTER SIZE HAIL. |
| 02:38 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 N Clayton | Pushmataha, OK | BARN HEAVILY DAMAGED. POSSIBLE TORNADO. |
| 02:40 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Nashoba | Pushmataha, OK | |
| 02:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Ne Tuskahoma | Pushmataha, OK | LARGE TREES DOWN ON US 271 AND 4 STAR ROAD. POSSIBLE TORNADO. |
| 02:49 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 E Nashoba | Pushmataha, OK | 2 HOMES WITH ROOF DAMAGE AND SIGNIFICANT TREE DAMAGE ON NOLIA LOOP ROAD EAST OF NASHOBA. POSSIBLE TORNADO. |
| 03:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 N Oleta | Pushmataha, OK | NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES REPORTED DOWN BETWEEN OLETA AND SOBOL...ALSO NORTH OF SOBOL. HOUSES DAMAGED. POSSIBLE TORNADO. |
| 03:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Moyers | Pushmataha, OK | TRAVEL TRAILER DESTROYED...SHED DESTROYED...OTHER WIND DAMAGE. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 14, 2011
47 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 14 | 4:12 PM CDT | EF0 | Osage, OK | 0.4 | 40 | |||
| April 14 | 4:42 PM CDT | EF0 | Lincoln, OK | 0.3 | 40 | |||
| April 14 | 4:45 PM CDT | EF0 | Saline, KS | 1.6 | 60 | $45,000 | ||
| April 14 | 5:00 PM CDT | EF2 | Osage, OK | 1.0 | 275 | $25,000 | ||
| April 14 | 5:02 PM CDT | EF0 | Cowley, KS | 2.2 | 125 | |||
| April 14 | 5:16 PM CDT | EF0 | Chautauqua, KS | 0.5 | 60 | |||
| April 14 | 5:23 PM CDT | EF0 | Saline, KS | 0.4 | 60 | |||
| April 14 | 5:24 PM CDT | EF1 | Pontotoc, OK | 1.0 | 50 | $8,000 | ||
| April 14 | 5:38 PM CDT | EF0 | Okfuskee, OK | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| April 14 | 5:39 PM CDT | EF0 | Washington, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| April 14 | 5:44 PM CDT | EF0 | Washington, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| April 14 | 6:03 PM CDT | EF1 | Marshall, OK | 14.0 | 300 | |||
| April 14 | 6:05 PM CDT | EF1 | Okfuskee, OK | 11.4 | 100 | |||
| April 14 | 6:11 PM CDT | EF1 | Washington, OK | 1.6 | 200 | $20,000 | ||
| April 14 | 6:11 PM CDT | EF0 | Cowley, KS | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| April 14 | 6:12 PM CDT | EF0 | Clay, KS | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| April 14 | 4:15 PM PDT | EF0 | Morrow, OR | 0.2 | 10 | $500 | ||
| April 14 | 6:25 PM CDT | EF0 | Johnston, OK | 0.2 | 100 | |||
| April 14 | 6:33 PM CDT | EF0 | Okfuskee, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| April 14 | 7:14 PM CDT | EF1 | Pittsburg, OK | 5.5 | 300 | |||
| April 14 | 7:20 PM CDT | EF3 | Atoka, OK | 17.0 | 1,320 | 2 | 40 | |
| April 14 | 7:21 PM CDT | EF1 | Atoka, OK | 4.0 | 100 | $10,000 | ||
| April 14 | 7:47 PM CDT | EF2 | Delaware, OK | 0.5 | 100 | 3 | $100,000 | |
| April 14 | 8:04 PM CDT | EF0 | Atoka, OK | 7.0 | 125 | |||
| April 14 | 8:12 PM CDT | EF0 | Pushmataha, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| April 14 | 8:18 PM CDT | EF1 | Wagoner, OK | 1.8 | 290 | $40,000 | ||
| April 14 | 8:28 PM CDT | EF1 | Latimer, OK | 4.6 | 600 | $25,000 | ||
| April 14 | 8:35 PM CDT | EF2 | Pushmataha, OK | 7.0 | 1,000 | |||
| April 14 | 8:36 PM CDT | EF1 | Atoka, OK | 2.0 | 400 | $20,000 | ||
| April 14 | 8:46 PM CDT | EF1 | Atoka, OK | 4.0 | 500 | $30,000 | ||
| April 14 | 8:50 PM CDT | EF1 | Pushmataha, OK | 1.0 | 75 | |||
| April 14 | 8:58 PM CDT | EF1 | Atoka, OK | 14.3 | 1,100 | $50,000 | ||
| April 14 | 8:59 PM CDT | EF1 | Atoka, OK | 0.5 | 125 | $10,000 | ||
| April 14 | 9:08 PM CDT | EF0 | Latimer, OK | 6.0 | 500 | |||
| April 14 | 9:23 PM CDT | EF1 | LeFlore, OK | 7.0 | 440 | 3 | $40,000 | |
| April 14 | 9:35 PM CDT | EF1 | LeFlore, OK | 1.5 | 300 | $10,000 | ||
| April 14 | 10:10 PM CDT | EF1 | Sebastian, AR | 0.5 | 150 | $100,000 | ||
| April 14 | 10:33 PM CDT | EF0 | McCurtain, OK | 1.7 | 75 | $500 | ||
| April 14 | 10:35 PM CDT | EF1 | Crawford, AR | 3.0 | 250 | $15,000 | ||
| April 14 | 10:46 PM CDT | EF0 | Fannin, TX | 1.5 | 100 | $35,000 | ||
| April 14 | 11:02 PM CDT | EF0 | McCurtain, OK | 4.6 | 75 | $10,000 | ||
| April 14 | 11:07 PM CDT | EF1 | Polk, AR | 0.5 | 75 | $350,000 | ||
| April 14 | 11:08 PM CDT | EF1 | Franklin, AR | 4.8 | 350 | 2 | $30,000 | |
| April 14 | 11:12 PM CDT | EF1 | Yell, AR | 0.8 | 25 | $25,000 | ||
| April 14 | 11:35 PM CDT | EF1 | Yell, AR | 2.1 | 75 | $75,000 | ||
| April 14 | 11:37 PM CDT | EF0 | McCurtain, OK | 1.2 | 75 | |||
| April 14 | 12:10 AM CDT | EF1 | Madison, AR | 0.5 | 100 | $15,000 |
What this means
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.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.