EF0 tornado, Reed to Granite, Oklahoma, November 18, 2024

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 18, 2024

Touchdown

3:23 AM CST (09:23 UTC)

Lifted

3:29 AM CST (09:29 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

4.4 miles (7.1 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$5,000

County

Greer County

Touchdown point

34.820, -99.465

Lift-off point

34.884, -99.469

Record number

2411180323-01

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 74 mph.

• Small trailer overturned; light debris along road

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

An intense (90-knot) mid-level jet streak lifted from the Texas Big Bend region into the Southern High Plains early on the 18th. An extensive quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) took shape across West Texas and moved into portions of western Oklahoma and western-north Texas during this time. With anomalously strong kinematics and marginally sufficient wind shear, a few portions of the line produced reports of thunderstorm wind damage and multiple brief/weak tornadoes. With time, the convective system gradually weakened into portions of central and eastern Oklahoma, producing only sporadic wind gusts/damage by daybreak.

A Tornado Debris Signature (TDS) was observed on KFDR radar as this storm moved north from Harmon County into far southwestern Greer County west of the community of Russell. No specific damage locations were reported so this path is estimated.

This tornado moved north into Greer County from Jackson County. Although no specific damage was reported in Greer County, a Tornado Debris Signature was observed on radar, although no specific damage locations were reported.

This tornado developed southwest of Mangum and moved north. A trailer was overturned east of Mangum and tree limb damage was also observed.

A Tornado Debris Signature was observed on KFDR radar. No specific damage locations were reported so this path is estimated.

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

14 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:09 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 09:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 08:03 UTC and running to 11:42 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:39 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.

Altus (AXS), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:23 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 2024 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.