Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2022
EF1 tornado, LeFlore County, Oklahoma, November 4, 2022
This EF1 tornado ran 6.5 miles across LeFlore County on November 4, 2022, touching down at 6:33 PM CDT and reaching 900 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $75,000 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
- November 4, 2022
- Touchdown
- 6:33 PM CDT (23:33 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:41 PM CDT (23:41 UTC)
- On the ground
- 8 minutes
- Path length
- 6.5 miles (10.5 km)
- Path width
- 900 yards (823 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $75,000
- County
- LeFlore County
- Touchdown point
- 34.871, -94.589
- Lift-off point
- 34.945, -94.519
- Record number
- 2211041733-01
The damage survey
12 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
The warnings
15 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:18 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:02 UTC and running to 01:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18:02 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | TSA |
| 21:32 UTC | 02:30 UTC | Flood Advisory | TSA |
| 21:50 UTC | 22:11 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA |
| 21:55 UTC | 22:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | TSA |
| 22:21 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA |
| 22:24 UTC | 02:15 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | TSA |
| 22:40 UTC | 23:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | TSA |
| 22:47 UTC | 02:45 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | TSA |
| 23:18 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | TSA |
| 23:19 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA |
| 23:54 UTC | 03:04 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | 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 19:36 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.
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
11.6 hours before the tornado, 232 km from the path. November 4, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 31 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -323 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 878 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 39 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 394 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 394 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.0 K/km
The radar
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:32 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:54 UTC | TORNADO | 6 N Battiest | Mccurtain, OK | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 6 N BATTIEST. THIS TORNADO DEVELOPED IN HEAVILY WOODED TERRAIN IN FAR NORTHERN MCCURTAIN COUNTY NEAR SHORT MOUNTAIN, WILDHORSE MOUNTAIN, AND SPRING MOUNTAIN. NUMEROUS TREES WERE SNAP |
| 22:58 UTC | TORNADO | 2 E Honobia | Le Flore, OK | DEBRIS SIGNATURE FROM KSRX. |
| 23:13 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | 2 Ene Gans | Sequoyah, OK | SPOTTER 2 ENE OF GANS ON I-40 REPORTED ROTATING WALL CLOUD, 65 MPH WINDS, BROKEN TREES WITH DEBRIS ON ROADWAY. ALSO DITCHES FLOODED WITH WATER OVERFLOWING OUT ONTO ROADWAY. |
| 23:19 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Spiro | Le Flore, OK | TREE AND POWER POLE DOWN. REPORT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. TIME IS RADAR ESTIMATED. |
| 00:32 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Se Heavener | Le Flore, OK | STRONG THUNDERSTORM WIND UPROOTED A TREE. |
| 00:33 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Se Heavener | Le Flore, OK | A TORNADO DEVELOPED JUST SOUTHEAST OF HEAVENER AND MOVED NORTHEAST FOR ABOUT 6.5 MILES. SEVERAL HOMES WERE DAMAGED, OUTBUILDINGS WERE DESTROYED, AND NUMEROUS TREES WERE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of November 4, 2022
29 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 4 | 1:30 PM CDT | EF1 | Bryan, OK | 3.4 | 40 | $75,000 | ||
| November 4 | 4:16 PM CDT | EF4 | Caviness–Sawyer tornado, Texas and Oklahoma | 44.7 | 1,700 | 11 | $5.9 million | |
| November 4 | 5:08 PM CDT | EF1 | Rains, TX | 4.4 | 150 | $20,000 | ||
| November 4 | 5:15 PM CDT | EF2 | Hopkins, TX | 2.9 | 160 | $1.0 million | ||
| November 4 | 5:35 PM CDT | EF2 | Henderson, TX | 15.1 | 150 | $3.0 million | ||
| November 4 | 5:46 PM CDT | EF2 | McCurtain, OK | 2.8 | 800 | 1 | 1 | $300,000 |
| November 4 | 5:51 PM CDT | EF1 | McCurtain, OK | 11.3 | 1,600 | $70,000 | ||
| November 4 | 6:15 PM CDT | EF4 | Clarksville–Idabel tornado, Texas and Oklahoma | 60.2 | 1,056 | 13 | $37 million | |
| November 4 | 6:38 PM CDT | EF1 | Camp, TX | 2.2 | 350 | |||
| November 4 | 6:44 PM CDT | EF3 | Morris, TX | 16.9 | 650 | 1 | 8 | $5.0 million |
| November 4 | 6:53 PM CDT | EF1 | Washington, AR | 6.5 | 1,000 | $2,000 | ||
| November 4 | 6:58 PM CDT | EF1 | Sebastian, AR | 5.8 | 1,000 | $400,000 | ||
| November 4 | 7:17 PM CDT | EF3 | Bowie, TX | 15.7 | 800 | $7.0 million | ||
| November 4 | 7:20 PM CDT | EF0 | Madison, AR | 1.3 | 150 | $30,000 | ||
| November 4 | 7:22 PM CDT | Unrated | Sebastian, AR | 2.5 | 150 | |||
| November 4 | 7:37 PM CDT | EF2 | Cass, TX | 19.7 | 700 | $2.0 million | ||
| November 4 | 7:38 PM CDT | EF1 | Franklin, AR | 3.3 | 350 | $75,000 | ||
| November 4 | 7:41 PM CDT | EF0 | Franklin, AR | 1.7 | 150 | $25,000 | ||
| November 4 | 7:43 PM CDT | EF1 | Carroll, AR | 8.5 | 1,100 | $200,000 | ||
| November 4 | 7:43 PM CDT | EF1 | Polk, AR | 1.8 | 200 | |||
| November 4 | 7:46 PM CDT | EF1 | Franklin, AR | 3.1 | 1,100 | |||
| November 4 | 8:37 PM CDT | EF2 | Howard, AR | 8.1 | 200 | $200,000 | ||
| November 4 | 8:49 PM CDT | EF1 | Yell, AR | 3.7 | 600 | |||
| November 4 | 9:08 PM CDT | EF2 | Pike, AR | 1.7 | 75 | |||
| November 4 | 9:15 PM CDT | EF1 | Yell, AR | 2.3 | 100 | |||
| November 4 | 10:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Clark, AR | 7.7 | 200 | |||
| November 4 | 10:27 PM CDT | EF1 | Hot Spring, AR | 0.4 | 150 | |||
| November 4 | 10:57 PM CDT | EF0 | Caddo Parish, LA | 1.3 | 70 | $3,000 | ||
| November 4 | 11:04 PM CDT | EF2 | Saline, AR | 1.6 | 200 |
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.