EF2 Tornado — Adair, Oklahoma

2024-11-04 · near Bidding Spgs, Adair, Oklahoma

Event narrative

This is the second segment of a four-segment tornado. The tornado moved into Adair County north of Caney Creek and south of the E 808 Road. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted, outbuildings were damaged, homes were damaged, and utility poles were snapped between the county line and Christie. Extensive tree damage occurred northeast of Christie along Highway 62, and continued to near the S 4720 Road. A manufactured home was destroyed and outbuildings were damaged. The tornado widened to about 1200 yards for several miles as it approached the state line. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 110 to 120 mph. The tornado continued into Washington County, Arkansas.

Wider weather episode

Strong to severe thunderstorms developed into and across eastern Oklahoma during the late morning through afternoon of the 4th, in an unseasonably moist and unstable air mass ahead of an approaching cold front. The atmosphere became very unstable ahead of the thunderstorms. The deep-layer and low-level wind shear strengthened during the afternoon, in response to a strong storm system translating into the Southern Plains from the Southern Rockies. The combination of very unstable air and very strong wind shear resulted in the development of some supercell thunderstorms, which produced multiple tornadoes across northeast and east central Oklahoma, including a long-track significant tornado that affected Cherokee and Adair Counties before moving into Arkansas. Damaging wind gusts also occurred. Locally heavy rainfall resulted in flash flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.8430, -94.8070)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1219389. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.