EF0 tornado, Snyder to Cooperton, Oklahoma, November 7, 2011

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

November 7, 2011

Touchdown

3:52 PM CST (21:52 UTC)

Lifted

4:18 PM CST (22:18 UTC)

On the ground

26 minutes

Path length

13.4 miles (21.5 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Kiowa and Comanche counties

Touchdown point

34.726, -98.836

Lift-off point

34.876, -98.692

Record number

1111071552-01

A powerful storm system moving through the southern Great Plains produced tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds and flooding across parts of Oklahoma and western north Texas on November 7-8, 2011.||The strong storm system generated severe weather including tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds and flooding from the early afternoon of November 7th through the early morning of November 8th. Several supercell thunderstorms developed over southwest Oklahoma during the mid-afternoon hours and moved northeast. One particularly nasty supercell thunderstorm developed over northern Wilbarger county in north Texas. This thunderstorm moved northeast into Tillman county, eventually producing at least eight tornadoes over a five county area. Two of the tornadoes moved near two Oklahoma Mesonet sites, both taking direct hits. The Mesonet site at Tipton measured 86.4 mph before it was destroyed. The Mesonet site near Fort Cobb measured 91.4 mph before it was destroyed. Both sites also recorded significant drops in surface pressure. Other supercells over southwest Oklahoma eventually congealed into a complex of storms and moved east into central Oklahoma. Numerous reports of high winds (92 mph near Clinton, OK) and hail up to golf ball-size were reported. The severe threat transitioned to a heavy rain and high threat after sunset.

This tornado continued into Kiowa County from Tillman County. The tornado only briefly entered the county before dissipating with no damage reported.

This brief tornado occurred east of Snyder, north of US Highway 62. No known damage occurred with this tornado.

This tornado began just west of the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge in Kiowa county, and continued northeast through the refuge, and then entered Kiowa county a 2nd time before lifting. This portion of the tornado was only briefly in Kiowa county with no known damage reported.

This large tornado developed just west of the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge in Kiowa County, then moved northeast into Comanche County and over the refuge. An elk was killed in the park, but little other damage occurred, despite the large size of the tornado. The tornado moved back into Kiowa County near Saddle Mountain.

This large tornado continued into Kiowa county from Comanche county. The tornado dissipated about 1 mile east-northeast of the community of Saddle Mountain, shortly after entering the county for the 2nd time. No known damage occurred with this portion of the tornado.

This brief tornado occurred east-northeast of Saddle Mountain. No known damage occurred with the tornado.

This brief tornado occurred northeast of Saddle Mountain and just south of State Highway 19. No known damage occurred with the tornado.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:27 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:11 UTC and running to 02:29 UTC.

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:49 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 Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 53 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:51 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

9 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.