EF1 tornado, Grove to Grove Arpt, Oklahoma, April 29, 2025

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 mphthis tornado

   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 mph

   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

EF1

Date

April 29, 2025

Touchdown

8:02 AM CDT (13:02 UTC)

Lifted

8:10 AM CDT (13:10 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

7.9 miles (12.7 km)

Path width

950 yards (869 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Delaware County

Touchdown point

36.466, -94.801

Lift-off point

36.456, -94.659

Record number

2504290702-01

72 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

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

Strong to severe thunderstorms developed into portions of eastern Oklahoma during the morning hours of the 29th, along and ahead of a cold front moving into the area. Weak instability and strong wind shear combined to allow the storms to become organized, with the strongest producing several tornadoes, large hail up to golf ball size, and damaging wind gusts.

A tornado developed east of Monkey Island on Grand Lake o' the Cherokees. There is video of this tornado over the lake. The tornado moved northeast across Patricia Island, uprooting a couple trees and snapping large tree limbs. More large tree limbs and a few trees were uprooted near Highway 59. The tornado widened as it approached the S 620 Road, where the roof of a metal building system was damaged and trees were uprooted. The tornado continued to widen as it approached Grove Municipal Airport. Outbuildings were severely damaged, homes were damaged, and trees were snapped or uprooted near the airport. There is video of the tornado as it moved across the north side of the airport, damaging outbuildings. The tornado crossed Highway 10 and dissipated north of the E 280 Road. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 90 to 100 mph.

This tornado developed along the E 380 Road, west of Highway 59, where trees were uprooted and large tree limbs were snapped. The tornado moved east-southeast. Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped, several homes were damaged, and several outbuildings were destroyed when it moved across Highway 59, through the S 640 Road. The tornado turned to the southeast after moving through Yellow Bird Hollow, and uprooted trees and snapped large tree limbs along the E 390 Road and S 670 Road. It dissipated east of the S 680 Road. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 95 to 100 mph.

This tornado developed north of the E 290 Road and west of the S 663 Road. The tornado moved northeast snapping large tree limbs and uprooting a few trees. It dissipated north of the E 280 Road and west of the S 680 Road. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 85 to 95 mph.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 07:38 UTC and running to 15:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:37 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), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:03 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 2025 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

15 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.