Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2011
EF0 tornado, Tipton to Manitou, Oklahoma, November 7, 2011
From Tipton to Manitou, this EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Tillman County on November 7, 2011, touching down at 2:59 PM CST and reaching 75 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
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
- EF0
- Date
- November 7, 2011
- Touchdown
- 2:59 PM CST (20:59 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.5 miles (0.8 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Tillman County
- Touchdown point
- 34.457, -99.140
- Lift-off point
- 34.457, -99.140
- Record number
- 1111071459-01
What the Weather Service recorded
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.
A satellite tornado was observed rotating around the EF4 tornado south of Tipton. No damage is known to have occurred from this tornado.
Another large tornado developed west-northwest of Manitou, OK and moved north-northeast toward the Kiowa county border. The tornado crossed into Kiowa county just east of US Highway 183.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
15 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:44 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:30 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:11 UTC and running to 02:29 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19:11 UTC | 02:29 UTC | Tornado Watch | OUN |
| 20:02 UTC | 21:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 20:44 UTC | 21:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | OUN |
| 21:27 UTC | 21:40 UTC | Tornado Warning | OUN |
| 01:25 UTC | 02:05 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 02:26 UTC | 03:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 02:29 UTC | 10:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | OUN |
| 02:44 UTC | 03:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
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 0.10 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 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), 12:00Z
9.0 hours before the tornado, 180 km from the path. November 7, 2011.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1081 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -4 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 572 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 482 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 24 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 201 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 163 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.9
- Supercell composite
- 4.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.4 K/km
Norman, OK (KOUN), 00:00Z
3.0 hours after it, 180 km from the path. November 8, 2011.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1647 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1517 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 574 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 316 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 325 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 3.0
- Supercell composite
- 12.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.8 K/km
The surface observations
Frederick (FDR), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:53 UTC | 73 | 65 | 160° 19 kt | 24 | 1009.1 | |
| 20:01 UTC | 73.4 | 64.4 | 160° 15 kt | 23 | 1008.8 | |
| 20:36 UTC | 73.4 | 64.4 | 140° 17 kt | 1008.1 | VCTS | |
| 20:51 UTC | 75.2 | 64.4 | 150° 22 kt | 29 | 1007.8 | VCTS |
| 20:53 UTC | 75 | 65 | 150° 23 kt | 29 | 1007.8 | VCTS |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 18 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:00 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:54 UTC | TORNADO 2 | 3 S Tipton | Tillman, OK | THIS LONG-LIVED TORNADO WAS OBSERVED PASSING TO THE SOUTH AND EAST OF TIPTON. IT LIKELY DEVELOPED IN EXTREME NORTHERN WILBARGER COUNTY TEXAS ABOUT 4 MILES EAST-NORTHEAST OF FARGO TEXAS AT AROUND 238 PM CST, AND DISSIPATE |
| 20:54 UTC | TORNADO | 3 S Tipton | Tillman, OK | |
| 21:15 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Nw Manitou | Tillman, OK | A TORNADO DEVELOPED TO THE WEST OR NORTHWEST OF MANITOU AT APPROXIMATELY 315 PM CST.. MOVED NORTHEAST AND DISSIPATED NEAR US HIGHWAY 183 LIKELY JUST NORTH OF THE KIOWA/TILLMAN COUNTY LINE SOUTH OF SNYDER. |
| 21:20 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | Lugert | Kiowa, OK | |
| 21:25 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | 10 S Snyder | Tillman, OK | |
| 21:38 UTC | TORNADO | 3 E Snyder | Kiowa, OK | |
| 21:50 UTC | HAIL 2 | 1 N Snyder | Kiowa, OK | |
| 21:50 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Ene Mountain Park | Kiowa, OK | A TORNADO DEVELOPED SOUTHEAST OF THE INTERSECTION OF STATE HIGHWAYS 49 AND 54 IN SOUTHEASTERN KIOWA COUNTY. THIS TORNADO MOVED NORTHEAST THROUGH THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS WILDLIFE REFUGE IN NORTHWESTERN COMANCHE COUNTY.. THE |
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 November 7, 2011
9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 7 | 2:38 PM CST | EF4 | Tillman, TX to OK | 17.4 | 500 | |||
| November 7 | 3:15 PM CST | EF0 | Tillman, OK | 6.0 | 400 | |||
| November 7 | 3:38 PM CST | EF0 | Kiowa, OK | 0.5 | 100 | |||
| November 7 | 3:52 PM CST | EF0 | Kiowa, OK | 13.4 | 500 | |||
| November 7 | 4:19 PM CST | EF0 | Kiowa, OK | 1.4 | 100 | |||
| November 7 | 4:24 PM CST | EF0 | Kiowa, OK | 0.5 | 100 | |||
| November 7 | 4:40 PM CST | EF0 | Caddo, OK | 3.0 | 150 | |||
| November 7 | 4:51 PM CST | EF1 | Caddo, OK | 13.0 | 400 | |||
| November 7 | 10:47 PM CST | EF1 | McClain, OK | 1.6 | 110 |
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.