Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2011

EF0 tornado, Boyd, Oklahoma, June 11, 2011

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Beaver County on June 11, 2011, touching down at 7:50 PM CDT and reaching 25 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
June 11, 2011
Touchdown
7:50 PM CDT (00:50 UTC)
Lifted
7:52 PM CDT (00:52 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Beaver County
Touchdown point
36.770, -100.820
Lift-off point
36.770, -100.818
Record number
1106111850-02

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS AMA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 65 mph.

  • Storm Chaser reported a brief tornado 5 miles north of Boyd. NWS Storm Survey crews investigated the area but found no damage.

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

Severe thunderstorms produced large hail, thunderstorm wind gusts and an isolated tornado in the central and eastern Oklahoma Panhandle during the evening hours. Although no injuries or fatalities were reported, the tornado and thunderstorm wind gusts in the central and eastern Oklahoma Panhandle did result in damage.

An official National Weather Service storm survey determined that the tornado briefly touched down near the intersection of U.S. Highway 83 and North 1228 Road about five miles north of Boyd Oklahoma in Beaver County around 1850 CST. The tornado dissipated around 1852 CST. There was no damage found from this tornado and the maximum estimated wind speeds were around fifty-six knots. The path length was approximately one tenth of a mile and the path width was estimated to be twenty-five yards. There were no injuries or fatalities reported.

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

The warnings

26 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:24 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:42 UTC and running to 03:40 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:42 UTC03:40 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchAMA
23:16 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
23:55 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningAMA
00:04 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
00:24 UTC01:15 UTCTornado WarningAMA
00:29 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WarningAMA
01:00 UTC01:30 UTCTornado WarningAMA
01:02 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
01:07 UTC01:30 UTCTornado WarningAMA
01:18 UTC01:44 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
01:29 UTC02:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
01:53 UTC02:49 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
02:19 UTC02:58 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
02:55 UTC03:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

0.8 hours before the tornado, 138 km from the path. June 12, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2011-06-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 889 joules per kilogram, CIN -62, lifted condensation level 1800 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2011-06-12The 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 -2 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
889 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-62 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1388 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1800 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
187 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
8.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z

11.2 hours after it, 138 km from the path. June 12, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2011-06-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 594 joules per kilogram, CIN -355, lifted condensation level 893 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2011-06-12The 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 439 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 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
594 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-355 J/kg
Surface CAPE
105 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
893 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
439 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
944 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
2.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 133 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:49 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
00:50 UTCTORNADO5 N BoydBeaver, OKBRIEF TORNADO AND BECAME RAIN WRAPPED.
00:54 UTCHAIL 4.56 Nne DarrouzettBeaver, OK
01:04 UTCHAIL 4.55 W BeaverBeaver, OKGOLFBALL TO SOFTBALL SIZE HAIL.
01:15 UTCHAIL 1.754 W BeaverBeaver, OK
01:18 UTCHAIL 1TyroneTexas, OK
01:25 UTCTSTM WND GST 701 Ssw BeaverBeaver, OK
01:29 UTCHAIL 1.75BeaverBeaver, OK
01:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Se ForganBeaver, OKOVERTURNED IRRIGATION EQUIPMENT. REPORT RELAYED BY BROADCAST MEDIA.
01:40 UTCHAIL 1BeaverBeaver, OK
01:43 UTCHAIL 1.25ForganBeaver, OK
02:22 UTCHAIL 1BeaverBeaver, OKPEA TO QUARTER SIZE HAIL.

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 June 11, 2011

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 111:22 PM MDTEF0Otero, CO0.675
June 113:07 PM MDTEF0Las Animas, CO0.150
June 113:50 PM MDTEF0Goshen, WY0.025
June 116:49 PM CDTEF0Lipscomb, TX0.550$15,000
June 117:11 PM CDTEF1Texas, OK2.150$20,000
June 117:50 PM CDTEF0Lipscomb, TX0.250$5,000
June 118:30 PM CDTEF0Ellis, OK1.010$100,000

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.