Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma

1985 tornadoes in Oklahoma

36 tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma in 1985, 39 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1984 1986 The whole country in 1985

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in Oklahoma in 1985

February 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 22	2:15 AM CST	F1	Rogers	0.1	10			$50,000 to $500,000

February 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 23	1:00 AM CST	F2	Atoka	10.0	500		3	$50,000 to $500,000

March 3 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 3	6:20 PM CST	F1	Logan	0.1	10		12	$50,000 to $500,000
March 3	7:00 PM CST	F1	Payne	0.1	10			$50,000 to $500,000

March 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 22	9:05 PM CST	F0	Cotton	0.1	10

March 26 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 26	8:47 PM CST	F1	McClain	0.1	10			$50,000 to $500,000
March 26	10:12 PM CST	F0	Pontotoc	0.1	10

April 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 19	11:30 PM CST	F0	Noble	0.1	10

April 20 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 20	9:42 PM CST	F1	Woodward	3.6	100			$5,000 to $50,000
April 20	10:01 PM CST	F0	Woodward	15.3	100			$5,000 to $50,000

April 22 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 22	4:00 AM CST	F1	Carter	0.1	10	$5,000 to $50,000
April 22	3:37 PM CST	F2	Custer	8.0	250	$500,000 to $5 million
April 22	4:04 PM CST	F0	Custer	5.0	50

April 29 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 29	7:54 PM CDT	F2	Love	14.0	880		1	$500,000 to $5 million
April 29	9:00 PM CDT	F1	Seminole	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

April 30 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 30	12:55 PM CDT	F0	Cherokee	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000
April 30	2:45 PM CDT	F1	Mayes	0.1	10		3	$50,000 to $500,000

May 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 6	10:40 PM CDT	F0	Woodward	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

May 12 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 12	8:12 PM CDT	F0	Logan	0.1	10
May 12	9:10 PM CDT	F1	Lincoln	0.1	10		3	$50,000 to $500,000

May 13 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 13	8:20 AM CDT	F0	Jackson	0.1	10
May 13	5:50 PM CDT	F0	Blaine	0.1	10

May 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 20	4:45 PM CDT	F0	Tillman	0.1	10

June 2 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 2	7:20 PM CDT	F0	Kiowa	0.2	10
June 2	7:25 PM CDT	F0	Kiowa	0.2	10
June 2	8:15 PM CDT	F0	Kiowa	0.2	10

June 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 3	7:20 PM CDT	F1	Garfield	0.2	10			$50,000 to $500,000

June 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 14	11:55 PM CDT	F1	Tulsa	0.2	10			$50,000 to $500,000

July 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 31	6:00 PM CDT	F0	Woods	0.2	10

September 22 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
September 22	3:40 PM CDT	F0	Woods	0.1	10
September 22	4:15 PM CDT	F0	Woods	0.2	10
September 22	6:15 PM CDT	F2	Alfalfa	4.0	500	$50,000 to $500,000

November 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 13	3:15 PM CST	F1	Tulsa	0.2	100		5	$5 million to $50 million

November 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 18	5:00 PM CST	F1	McCurtain	3.0	100		4	$50,000 to $500,000

November 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 19	6:10 AM CST	F1	Pottawatomie	0.3	70			$50,000 to $500,000

November 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 30	7:30 PM CST	F2	Atoka	4.0	300			$50,000 to $500,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Oklahoma since 1950 Warnings in force in Oklahoma The live radar over Oklahoma

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.