EF1 Tornado — Mccurtain, Oklahoma

2024-11-04 · near Holly Creek, Mccurtain, Oklahoma

Event narrative

An EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 93 mph touched down several miles northeast of Idabel near the Little River. Storm chaser video confirmed that this weak tornado began just north of the Little River west of Highway 70 in an area of inaccessible terrain. The tornado traveled north-northeast and snapped the trunk of a hardwood tree along Tebo Jones Road, where it continued northeast, crossing Wood Turtle Lane, and downed a few large limbs along Rodeo Road before lifting just south of Bait Shop Road.

Wider weather episode

An upper trough of low pressure traversed the Southern Plains on November 4th, which reinforced a cold front southeast into the region during the evening through the early morning hours of the 5th. Abnormally warm and humid conditions had spread north into Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas ahead of the front, resulting in increased instability across the area along with ample wind shear generated near and ahead of the approaching trough. As a result, scattered strong to severe thunderstorms developed ahead of the front across portions of extreme Northeast Texas and Southeast Oklahoma during the late afternoon through the early evening hours. An isolated tornado was spawned in South-Central McCurtain County Oklahoma just northeast of Idabel, which snapped several trees and limbs, with additional downburst winds for another severe thunderstorm damaging a vehicle service building in Idabel.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.9463, -94.7729)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1223763. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.