EF3 Claremore–Pryor tornado, Oklahoma, May 25, 2024

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 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.

4. EF3136 to 165 mphthis tornado

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 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.

7. 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.

Rating

EF3

Date

May 25, 2024

Touchdown

11:19 PM CDT (04:19 UTC)

Lifted

11:59 PM CDT (04:59 UTC)

On the ground

40 minutes

Path length

23.9 miles (38.5 km)

Path width

2,000 yards (1829 m)

Deaths

2

Injuries

23

Property damage

$45 million

Counties

Rogers and Mayes counties

Touchdown point

36.307, -95.765

Lift-off point

36.319, -95.346

Record number

2405252219-01

111 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 150 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Severe thunderstorms developed over western Oklahoma during the afternoon of the 25th, along a sharpening dry line, and moved east across Oklahoma through the evening and into the early morning hours of the 26th. The atmosphere east of the dry line across Oklahoma was moist and very unstable. Wind fields above the ground and deep layer wind shear strengthened during the afternoon through the early morning hours of the 26th, as an upper level disturbance translated into the Southern Plains. Additionally, low level wind shear increased late in the evening and continued very strong into the early morning hours of the 26th. These conditions were very supportive for the development of supercell thunderstorms. One of these supercells became particularly intense and long-tracked as it moved across northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas, producing multiple tornadoes, several of which were strong. Large hail to base ball size and swaths of damaging straight-line wind also occurred, resulting in considerable damage.

This is the first segment of a two-segment tornado. This tornado developed northeast of Owasso near Limestone, and moved east-southeast through Keetonville. Homes were damaged, outbuildings were destroyed, and numerous trees were snapped or uprooted. The tornado turned to the east-northeast as it approached Claremore, where numerous homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, and numerous trees and power poles were blown down. It blew a large portion of the roof from Will Rogers Downs on the east side of town, and destroyed numerous recreational vehicles at a park near the Downs. The tornado continued to move east, then northeast, as it moved away from Claremore and toward the Rogers/Mayes County line. Numerous homes were damaged or destroyed between Claremore and the county line. Numerous outbuildings were destroyed, and many trees and power poles were blown down. In total, more than 40 homes and businesses were destroyed by the tornado, and about 1200 others were damaged. Nineteen injuries occurred in Rogers County from the tornado. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 145 to 155 mph. The tornado continued into Mayes County.

This is the second segment of a two-segment tornado. The tornado moved into Mayes County at about the W 470 Road, and continued to produce significant damage, snapping many trees at the county line. As it moved east-southeast, the tornado destroyed a mobile home less than a mile east of the county line, where two fatalities and four injuries occurred. The tornado destroyed several homes near the N 428 Road, about four miles northwest of Pryor, and then dissipated about two miles northwest of Pryor. In total, about 60 homes were damaged, eighteen of which were destroyed, more than 50 outbuildings were destroyed, and many power poles were blown down. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 145 to 155 mph.

The deaths

2 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

28 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:51 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:05 UTC and running to 08:10 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:17 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 15 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:20 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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