2011 El Reno–Piedmont tornado

The 2011 El Reno–Piedmont tornado was a long-tracked, deadly EF5 tornado that struck central Oklahoma on the evening of May 24, 2011. The tornado impacted areas near or within the communities of El Reno, Piedmont, and Guthrie, killing nine and injuring 181. After producing incredible damage in several locations along a path of over 60 mi (97 km), the El Reno–Piedmont tornado was given a rating of EF5, the highest category on the Enhanced Fujita scale, and was found by mobile radar to have possessed possible wind speeds of up to 295 mph (475 km/h). It was the first tornado rated EF5 or F5 to strike Oklahoma since the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado.

2011 was a prolific year for both tornadoes and tornado-associated fatalities, with multiple destructive outbreaks. The El Reno–Piedmont tornado occurred during a wider severe weather episode across Oklahoma and the Great Plains that produced multiple violent tornadoes near the Oklahoma City metropolitan area on May 24, and was itself part of a tornado outbreak sequence spanning May 21 to May 26, 2011. The Oklahoma storms came just two days after a devastating EF5 tornado in Joplin, Missouri on May 22, which killed 158 people and became the costliest tornado in U.S. history.

El Reno has infamously been the site of several other intense tornadoes. Just two years later, on May 31, 2013, another tornado just south of the town became the largest tornado ever recorded, with a width of 2.6 miles (4.2 km) and radar-indicated wind speeds well over 200 mph (320 km/h). The massive multiple-vortex tornado killed eight people, including three storm chasers, and received a damage rating of EF3. In 2019, a brief tornado spawned from an intense squall line struck just southeast of El Reno, killing two people and injuring dozens while again receiving a rating of EF3.