Oklahoma Records Most November Tornadoes in State History

A flipped vehicle near a damaged home after a tornado hit Midwest City, Okla., on Nov. 3. Sean Taylor via AP

Oklahoma, a state known for twisters, appears on track to nearly double its record number of November tornadoes this year, with just less than one-half of the month to go.

National and state weather officials have confirmed 16 tornadoes have touched down in the Sooner State as of Nov. 18, with the expectation that number will break 20 as investigations continue.

Oklahoma’s previous record for November was 12, set in 1958.

“We have never seen a November like this in state history,” Gary McManus, state meteorologist at the Oklahoma Climate Survey Mesonet, said in an email update called the Mesonet Ticker. ”Even pre-state history, going back to 1895 at least.”

As of Nov. 17, the preliminary tornado count from the National Weather Service (NWS) was 16, but then another severe thunderstorm hit on the morning of Nov. 18.

“We had at least another 5-6 twisters noted by the NWS folks this morning in [southwest Oklahoma], and maybe a few more after that in northern OK,” he added.

“That’ll put us over 20 tornadoes. In November.”

The NWS has yet to update its numbers as of this article’s publication.

This record-setting month was kicked off by back-to-back storms on the mornings of Nov. 3 and 4. At least six twisters were already confirmed by the morning of Nov. 4, and experts predicted that later reports would confirm a record-breaking number of touchdowns.

“I have called it ‘Mayvember' as a simple play on words since this month has acted much more like a spring month, with the record rainfall and the tornadoes,” McManus told The Epoch Times in a separate email. ”In fact, November eclipsed May this year as the rainiest month in 2024. May had 5.6 inches. It’s unusual to have a cool-season month lead the calendar’s rainfall totals.”

Oklahoma’s statewide average rainfall for November, as of 7 a.m. CT on Nov. 18, was 7.45 inches, according to the NWS River Forecast Rainfall Estimate, with several individual areas averaging more than 10 inches.

Spring 2024 was a very active season. May saw 52 tornadoes, and April had a record 56 tornadoes, the NWS confirmed.

This year currently ranks third highest in total tornadoes, with 130 recorded, according to the NWS. The highest record was 149—of which 105 were recorded in May—in 2019.

This year also currently ranks fourth in the number of autumn tornadoes, with 18 confirmed in September, October, and November. The most is still held by 2021, which saw 38, with a record-setting 34 developing that October.

The NWS’s monthly and annual statistics for Oklahoma go back to 1950.