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F2 tornado in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma

Tornado April 11, 2001 · Pontotoc County, Oklahoma

F2
Rating
14.5 mi
Whole path
400 yd
Path width
$515K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Pontotoc County → Coal County → Pontotoc County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This is the 3rd and final segment to the tornado which formed in Pontotoc County at 0340 CST, moved through Coal County, then re-entered Pontotoc County at 0356 CST. Several additional power transmission towers were downed across this area, along with substantial damage to a power substation about 1 mile southwest of Lula.

The wider storm

Six tornadoes across southern Oklahoma and one tornado across western north Texas developed during the overnight hours of the 11th. The most notable tornado formed across Coal County in Oklahoma and resulted in one fatality and one injury as it destroyed a mobile home. In addition to damage produced by severe thunderstorms, sustained winds of 40 to 50 mph with gusts as high as 73 mph developed just ahead of the most frequent period of severe weather and persisted for several hours. In Tillman County, at 2330 CST on the 10th, a barn roof was damaged 3 miles east of Frederick. A barn roof was blown off, and a fence was downed 4 miles east of Frederick, and a house roof sustained minor damage 4 miles north of Frederick. Trees and power lines were downed in Ponca City in Kay County, while in Garfield County, minor but widespread damage, was sustained to trees, power poles, and numerous other structures.

Began near Lula (34.6667, -96.4667).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5236390. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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