EF4 Tornado — Mccurtain, Oklahoma
2022-11-04 · near Boss, Mccurtain, Oklahoma
Event narrative
This is the continuation of the Red River County Texas EF-4 tornado. This tornado had weakened upon entering Southern McCurtain County Oklahoma, producing EF-2 damage in rural areas southwest of Idabel, ripping the roofs off of several single family homes. Shortly before entering Idabel, the outer edge of this tornado hit the Oklahoma Mesonet observing platform located about 5 miles to the southwest off of Ravens Nest Road. An anemometer located 10 meters above the platform measured a wind gust of 108 mph, with a nearby single family home sustaining roof damage where EF-2 winds estimated near 125 mph removed a large section of the roof structure with a wall collapsing on another single family home off of Osprey Road. The tornado continued on to snap several hundred trees before hitting a single family home off of Boss Road which had a wall collapse and partial roof damage that could not be rated due to trees falling into the home. More EF-2 damage was observed as the tornado approached Highway 259 when the tornado removed the roof and much of the second story off of a single family home. The two people in the home took shelter on the first floor under the stairs, preventing injury as winds estimated at 125 mph damaged the home. As the tornado moved northeast across Stone Haven Road, a Davis weather station recorded a gust of approximately 130 mph.
Upon entering Idabel, the tornado damaged additional roofs of homes in several neighborhoods on the southeast side of town. One of the most hard hit subdivisions was Country Club Estates. None of the homes in the Country Club Estates were rated due to tree damage which resulted in much of the structural damage from trees falling into homes. Nearby at the Idabel Country Club, nearly every tree sustained damage on approximately six holes, with mostly snaps observed. There was also some debarking of trees in this area, where an EF-3 swath of damage had begun. Behind the golf course, a single family home was destroyed with most of its walls collapsed except for a small interior room.
The tornado continued to move northeast, hitting the Kiamichi Family Medical Center where EF-2 damage (near 115 mph) was estimated due to the facade components that were torn from the structure. As the tornado approached Highway 259 and East Washington Street, it damaged the sign of a McDonald's and a swath of EF-3 winds completely destroyed the Donut Crossing and Express Tire stores. A sign from the Donut Crossing store was lofted by the tornado and carried 14.3 miles where it was found on the west side of Eagletown. After crossing East Washington Street, the tornado completely destroyed the Trinity Baptist Church. Winds at this location were estimated to be near 155 mph with the total destruction of the metal building system which was surrounded by a brick wall that collapsed with concrete anchors pulled up from the ground. The tornado moved on to produce narrow EF-2 damage in the more broader EF-1 damage swath with small vorticies likely extending down to the ground from the elevated large funnel cloud at this point.
After moving northeast of Idabel, the tornado crossed mainly rural areas and completely destroyed chicken houses while snapping hardwood and softwood trees for approximately the next ten miles. An areal survey indicates that the tornado briefly lifted near the Little River and then touched down again in a forested area before damaging a metal structure atop a chicken plant off of Craig Road. A survey team from the National Weather Service Little Rock office found EF-2 damage with 135 mph winds between Eagletown and Broken Bow just south of Highway 70, where numerous trees and several wooden utility poles were snapped near the base near the Tyson Craig Feed Mill, a large elevator structure on top of a silo collapsed with a portion of a metal roof and walls ripped off of an adjacent metal building, and a doublewide manufactured home at the eastern end of Box Turtle Road was thrown off of its concrete pad, nearly pulling out an underground shelter, rolling over it, and landing about 30 feet to the north. Over half of the house was stripped of the undercarriage. Only about one-third of the walls/roof were left with the remainder of the structure removed and scattered well to the north.
As the tornado crossed Highway 70 just west of Eagletown, many additional pines and hardwoods were snapped and uprooted. Nearly all utility poles within the path were also snapped or pushed over. The tornado then moved into a heavily forested area north of Eagletown with more specific damage noted from Old Winship Road to Pero Creek through the use of high-resolution satellite imagery before the tornado finally lifted a few miles before reaching the border with Northwestern Sevier County in Southwest Arkansas.
Remarkedly, only 6 injuries and no fatalities were reported from this long track tornado throughout Southern and Eastern McCurtain County Oklahoma. In total, 220 homes were estimated to had been affected by this tornado, with 10-20 businesses damaged or destroyed. Of the total homes affected, 65 of them were destroyed.
Wider weather episode
A strong upper level trough progressed through the Rockies and into the Central and Southern Plains during the day on November 4th, enhancing strong surface low development over the Upper Red River Valley into Oklahoma. This produced a strong pressure gradient over the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley, allowing for very rich Gulf moisture to surge north across the Ark-La-Tex area into Eastern Oklahoma and much of Arkansas. This generated moderate instability across these areas during the afternoon, as temperatures rose into the lower to mid 80s. Very strong wind shear was also in place over these areas, with the upper trough reinforcing a cold front southeast into Southeast Oklahoma, Western Arkansas, and East Texas. This trough enhanced large scale forcing along the front, with discrete supercell development also occurring ahead of the main line of storms over portions of East Texas, Southeast Oklahoma, and Southwest Arkansas. Multiple tornadoes, some strong, touched down across these areas, with additional instances of damaging winds also reported before the line of storms overtook these discrete supercells and shifted east across the remainder of East Texas, Southwest Arkansas, and into North Louisiana during the evening and overnight hours.
View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.8055, -94.9175)
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1060587. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.