Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2011

EF0 tornado, LeFlore County, Oklahoma, April 19, 2011

This EF0 tornado ran 3.0 miles across LeFlore County on April 19, 2011, touching down at 6:48 PM CDT and reaching 125 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
April 19, 2011
Touchdown
6:48 PM CDT (23:48 UTC)
Lifted
6:52 PM CDT (23:52 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
3.0 miles (4.8 km)
Path width
125 yards (114 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
LeFlore County
Touchdown point
34.573, -94.541
Lift-off point
34.587, -94.491
Record number
1104191748-01

The warnings

4 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:44 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:20 UTC and running to 01:08 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:20 UTC01:08 UTCTornado WatchTSA
22:51 UTC23:45 UTCTornado WarningTSA
23:07 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
23:44 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningTSA
00:02 UTC00:16 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
00:37 UTC00:54 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:37 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.

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 12:00Z

11.8 hours before the tornado, 244 km from the path. April 19, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2011-04-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2420 joules per kilogram, CIN -204, lifted condensation level 642 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2011-04-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 234 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2420 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-204 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2429 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
642 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
234 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
299 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.2
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 00:00Z

0.2 hours after it, 244 km from the path. April 20, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 2011-04-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2277 joules per kilogram, CIN -179, lifted condensation level 1895 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 2011-04-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 127 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2277 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-179 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3182 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1895 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
165 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
4.6
0-3 km lapse rate
7.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:49 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
23:13 UTCTORNADO2 Se HonobiaLe Flore, OKTORNADO TRACKED ENE AND WAS ON THE GROUND FOR SEVERAL MINUTES. NO STRUCTURAL DAMAGE NOTED.
23:15 UTCHAIL 2.55 S TalihinaPushmataha, OK
23:30 UTCHAIL 1.75MuseLe Flore, OK
23:31 UTCHAIL 0.88MuseLe Flore, OK
23:51 UTCHAIL 0.755 Ne Big CedarLe Flore, OK

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 19, 2011

69 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 194:00 PM CDTEF1Pike, MO4.1150
April 194:36 PM CDTEF0Pike, MO0.450
April 195:58 PM CDTEF0Pushmataha, OK0.150
April 195:58 PM CDTEF3Macoupin, IL4.32002
April 196:07 PM CDTEF1Pushmataha, OK3.5100
April 196:08 PM CDTEF2Montgomery, IL3.2150
April 196:15 PM CDTEF2Montgomery, IL3.5200
April 196:17 PM CDTEF1Christian, IL2.0100$90,000
April 196:30 PM CDTEF0Christian, IL3.5100$95,000
April 196:32 PM CDTEF1Christian, IL0.9100$60,000
April 196:45 PM CDTEF0LeFlore, OK0.175
April 197:43 PM CDTEF1Wayne, MO5.2500$25,000
April 197:55 PM CDTEF0Bollinger, MO0.5100$15,000
April 197:59 PM CDTEF1Edgar, IL1.1100$140,000
April 198:02 PM CDTEF0Vermilion, IL2.725$225,000
April 199:10 PM EDTEF1Vermillion, IN31.1100$85,000
April 198:11 PM CDTEF1Vermilion, IL2.6100$360,000
April 198:35 PM CDTEF0Jackson, IL3.9100$70,000
April 198:40 PM CDTEF1Franklin, IL0.350$80,000
April 199:40 PM EDTEF1Tippecanoe, IN0.7100$80,000
April 198:49 PM CDTEF1Franklin, IL0.150$10,000
April 199:50 PM EDTEF0Tippecanoe, IN2.650$15,000
April 199:55 PM EDTEF1Boone, IN0.650$10,000
April 199:02 PM CDTEF1Marion, IL0.475
April 199:03 PM CDTEF1Jefferson, IL4.3100$70,000
April 199:06 PM CDTEF1Jefferson, IL1.4100$90,000
April 199:19 PM CDTEF1Hamilton, IL3.4150$150,000
April 199:27 PM CDTEF0Cape Girardeau, MO0.140$20,000
April 199:28 PM CDTEF2White, IL1.8125$2.0 million
April 199:30 PM CDTEF1White, IL1.4100$300,000
April 199:30 PM CDTEF2Wayne, IL10.61502$400,000
April 1910:41 PM EDTEF1Grant, IN2.5150$100,000
April 199:48 PM CDTEF2Wabash, IL11.3250$2.5 million
April 1910:48 PM EDTEF1Grant, IN2.950
April 199:53 PM CDTEF1Wabash, IL2.8125$50,000
April 1910:54 PM EDTEF1Knox, IN10.975$206,000
April 199:57 PM CDTEF1Gibson, IN4.4100$130,000
April 1911:16 PM EDTEF1Jay, IN6.950
April 1911:19 PM EDTEF0Van Wert, OH0.550
April 1911:22 PM EDTEF0Dubois, IN0.3200
April 1911:22 PM EDTEF1Dubois, IN3.1200
April 1911:25 PM EDTEF0Dubois, IN1.9200
April 1911:26 PM EDTEF1Dubois, IN0.4100
April 1911:26 PM EDTEF2Dubois, IN3.3300
April 1911:39 PM EDTEF2Mercer, OH3.730$340,000
April 1911:39 PM EDTEF2Orange, IN1.0200
April 1911:40 PM EDTEF1Orange, IN1.5125
April 1911:40 PM EDTEF1Van Wert, OH4.0100
April 1911:40 PM EDTEF1Orange, IN0.775
April 1911:44 PM EDTEF0Auglaize, OH3.867$55,000
April 1911:47 PM EDTEF0Orange, IN0.5100
April 1910:54 PM CDTEF0Breckinridge, KY11.5150
April 1911:58 PM EDTEF1Allen, OH0.7100
April 1911:59 PM EDTEF1Washington, IN1.5200
April 1912:00 AM EDTEF0Washington, IN1.275
April 1912:07 AM EDTEF0Washington, IN0.750
April 1912:09 AM EDTEF0Harrison, IN0.350
April 1912:14 AM EDTEF0Washington, IN13.1200
April 1912:19 AM EDTEF0Scott, IN11.8100
April 1912:28 AM EDTEF1Clark, IN1.2200

All 70 of them

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.