The November 7-8, 2011 Severe Weather Event
in Oklahoma and Western North Texas
Photo courtesy of Dustin Wilcox.
A Large Tornado moves over Saddle Mountain.
Photo courtesy of Steve Grabman.
Tornado near Tipton, OK.
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 system initially produced numerous thunderstorms, heavy rainfall and flash flooding over parts of south central Oklahoma during the late evening of November 6th and early morning of November 7th. Rainfall totals of 5-9 inches were reported across parts of Jefferson, Carter and Murray counties.
The system then 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. Thunderstorms dropped heavy rainfall across parts of central Oklahoma including the OKC metro area. Rainfall totals of 4-7 inches produced significant runoff and flash flooding in this area. Some creeks and streams in northwestern Oklahoma County and southern Logan County, including Deer Creek, Bluff Creek and Cottonwood Creek, flooded on November 8th and closed local roads and lowlands. The floodwaters eventually moved downstream through Cottonwood Creek and produced flooding or near bankfull conditions near the Seward and Guthrie areas through the early morning hours of November 9th. Significant within-bank rises also occurred along the North Canadian River in Canadian County, and the Canadian River near Bridgeport, OK.
A total of at least 6 tornadoes have been documented for this event (see table below). These tornadoes were produced by a single supercell thunderstorm that moved over parts of western north Texas and southwestern Oklahoma. A preliminary tornado track map and local storm report for these tornadoes are available below. Two of the tornadoes moved near Oklahoma Mesonet sites. The Mesonet site at Tipton took a direct hit, but measured 86.4 mph before it was destroyed. The Mesonet site near Fort Cobb also took a direct hit, but measured 91.4 mph before it was destroyed. Both sites recorded significant drops in surface pressure. You can see the recorded data (before malfunctioning) at Tipton and Fort Cobb, courtesy of the Oklahoma Mesonet.
More information for this severe weather event will be added as it becomes available.
Preliminary Tornado Track for the November 7, 2011 Tornadoes in Southwestern Oklahoma
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
1225 PM CST TUE NOV 08 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0254 PM TORNADO 3 S TIPTON 34.46N 99.14W
11/07/2011 TILLMAN OK AMATEUR RADIO
THIS LONG-LIVED TORNADO WAS OBSERVED PASSING TO THE SOUTH
AND EAST OF TIPTON. IT LIKELY DEVELOPED IN EXTREME
NORTHERN WILBARGER COUNTY TEXAS ABOUT 4 MILES
EAST-NORTHEAST OF FARGO TEXAS AT AROUND 238 PM CST, AND
DISSIPATED ABOUT 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF TIPTON AT AROUND
315 PM CST.
0315 PM TORNADO 2 NW MANITOU 34.53N 99.01W
11/07/2011 TILLMAN OK TRAINED SPOTTER
A TORNADO DEVELOPED TO THE WEST OR NORTHWEST OF MANITOU
AT APPROXIMATELY 315 PM CST.. MOVED NORTHEAST AND
DISSIPATED NEAR US HIGHWAY 183 LIKELY JUST NORTH OF THE
KIOWA/TILLMAN COUNTY LINE SOUTH OF SNYDER.
0338 PM TORNADO 3 E SNYDER 34.66N 98.90W
11/07/2011 KIOWA OK TRAINED SPOTTER
0350 PM TORNADO 6 ENE MOUNTAIN PARK 34.72N 98.84W
11/07/2011 KIOWA OK TRAINED SPOTTER
A TORNADO DEVELOPED SOUTHEAST OF THE INTERSECTION OF
STATE HIGHWAYS 49 AND 54 IN SOUTHEASTERN KIOWA COUNTY.
THIS TORNADO MOVED NORTHEAST THROUGH THE WICHITA
MOUNTAINS WILDLIFE REFUGE IN NORTHWESTERN COMANCHE
COUNTY.. THEN MOVED BACK INTO KIOWA COUNTY AND DISSIPATED
AT APPROXIMATELY 425 PM CST EAST-NORTHEAST OF SADDLE
MOUNTAIN.
0445 PM TORNADO 7 SSE CARNEGIE 35.01N 98.55W
11/07/2011 CADDO OK TRAINED SPOTTER
THIS TORNADO WAS OBSERVED TO THE SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF
CARNEGIE AND TO THE SOUTHWEST OF FORT COBB AND LASTED FOR
A FEW MINUTES.
0500 PM TORNADO 3 NW FORT COBB 35.13N 98.47W
11/07/2011 CADDO OK TRAINED SPOTTER
THIS MULTIPLE-VORTEX TORNADO DEVELOPED AT APPROXIMATELY
500 PM CST TO THE NORTHWEST OF FORT COBB... AND MOVED
NORTH AFFECTING AREAS AROUND FORT COBB LAKE. THIS TORNADO
LASTED 10 TO 15 MINUTES.
&&
THESE TORNADO DATA FOR THE NOVEMBER 7 TORNADOES ARE VERY PRELIMINARY
AND BASED ON INITIAL REPORTS RECEIVED BY THE NWS NORMAN... AND WILL
LIKELY BE MODIFIED AS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IS RECEIVED FROM
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS...STORM SPOTTERS AND SURVEY TEAMS AND
AS ADDITIONAL ANALYSIS IS PERFORMED.
$$
..SPEG.
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