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EF4 tornado in Tillman County, Oklahoma

Tornado November 7, 2011 · Tillman County, Oklahoma

EF4
Rating
17.4 mi
Whole path
500 yd
Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Wilbarger County, Texas → Jackson County → Tillman County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF4 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF4 is devastating damage: well-built houses levelled, consistent with estimated gusts of 166–200 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This violent tornado continued northeast into Tillman county about 9 miles SSW of Tipton. The most severe damage occurred at the Oklahoma State University Agronomy Research Station. The buildings at the site were demolished, with most of the debris thrown into the nearby fields. The trees surrounding the site were debarked and splintered. Other damage was to the Tipton Mesonet site that took a direct hit. The wind speed maxed out at 86.4 mph before the site was demolished by flying debris. The tornado lifted about 3 miles NNE of Tipton.

The wider storm

A powerful storm system moving through the southern Great Plains produced tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds and flooding across parts of Oklahoma and western north Texas on November 7-8, 2011.

The strong storm system generated severe weather including tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds and flooding from the early afternoon of November 7th through the early morning of November 8th. Several supercell thunderstorms developed over southwest Oklahoma during the mid-afternoon hours and moved northeast. One particularly nasty supercell thunderstorm developed over northern Wilbarger county in north Texas. This thunderstorm moved northeast into Tillman county, eventually producing at least eight tornadoes over a five county area. Two of the tornadoes moved near two Oklahoma Mesonet sites, both taking direct hits. The Mesonet site at Tipton measured 86.4 mph before it was destroyed. The Mesonet site near Fort Cobb measured 91.4 mph before it was destroyed. Both sites also recorded significant drops in surface pressure. Other supercells over southwest Oklahoma eventually congealed into a complex of storms and moved east into central Oklahoma. Numerous reports of high winds (92 mph near Clinton, OK) and hail up to golf ball-size were reported. The severe threat transitioned to a heavy rain and high threat after sunset.

Began near Tipton Arpt (34.3570, -99.1940).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

8 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 353589. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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