Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2025

EF1 tornado, Metory to Barber, Oklahoma, June 7, 2025

From Metory to Barber, this EF1 tornado ran 9.3 miles across Cherokee County on June 7, 2025, touching down at 5:13 AM CDT and reaching 2,000 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

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

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
June 7, 2025
Touchdown
5:13 AM CDT (10:13 UTC)
Lifted
5:22 AM CDT (10:22 UTC)
On the ground
9 minutes
Path length
9.3 miles (15.0 km)
Path width
2,000 yards (1829 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Cherokee County
Touchdown point
35.848, -95.023
Lift-off point
35.816, -94.862
Record number
2506070413-01

The damage survey

18 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 94 mph.

  • video capture from Clint Monday

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

What the Weather Service recorded

Strong to severe thunderstorms developed during the evening of the 6th over southeast Colorado, southwest Kansas, and the western Oklahoma Panhandle. The storms moved southeast through the early morning hours of the 7th, evolving into a well-organized squall line by the time they moved into eastern Oklahoma. The line of strong to severe thunderstorms produced a couple tornadoes and damaging wind across eastern Oklahoma.

This tornado developed near Highway 10, west of the Cherokee Nation Child Development Center, and traveled east-southeast for approximately 9 miles before dissipating just east of where the Illinois River widens into Tenkiller Lake. The tornado produced minor damage to some homes, uprooted trees, and snapped large tree limbs. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 90 to 95 mph.

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

The warnings

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 tornado watch, issued at 06:07 UTC and running to 12:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
06:07 UTC12:00 UTCTornado WatchTSA
07:16 UTC12:47 UTCFlood AdvisoryTSA
10:03 UTC10:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
10:13 UTC10:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
10:17 UTC10:33 UTCTornado WarningTSA
10:39 UTC10:56 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
20:05 UTC10:05 UTCFlood WarningTSA
22:46 UTC19:30 UTCFlood WarningTSA

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 forecast that day

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 05:47 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 air that afternoon

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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

10.2 hours before the tornado, 157 km from the path. June 7, 2025.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2025-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 43 joules per kilogram, CIN -88, lifted condensation level 924 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2025-06-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 23 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
43 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-88 J/kg
Surface CAPE
639 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
924 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
99 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

1.8 hours after it, 157 km from the path. June 7, 2025.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2025-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 43 joules per kilogram, CIN -42, lifted condensation level 851 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2025-06-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 61 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
43 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-42 J/kg
Surface CAPE
215 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
851 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
61 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
36 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Tahlequah Municipal (TQH), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
08:15 UTC68680° 0 kt
08:35 UTC69.869.80° 0 kt
08:55 UTC68680° 0 kt
09:15 UTC69.869.80° 0 kt
09:35 UTC69.869.80° 0 kt
09:55 UTC69.869.80° 0 kt
10:15 UTC69.869.8330° 23 kt30
10:35 UTC64.464.4340° 8 kt14BR
10:55 UTC64.464.420° 6 ktBR
11:15 UTC64.464.4330° 3 ktBR
11:35 UTC64.464.40° 0 kt
11:55 UTC64.464.4240° 3 kt

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:09 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
09:42 UTCTSTM WND DMGStilwellAdair, OKTrees down and power outages.
10:10 UTCTSTM WND GST 606 Ese PeggsCherokee, OK
10:17 UTCTORNADO5 S TahlequahCherokee, OKTDS observed on INX radar at reported time.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2025 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 7, 2025

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 71:12 AM CDTEF0Woods, OK0.530$1,000
June 71:36 AM CDTEF1Alfalfa, OK0.530$20,000
June 75:52 AM CDTEF1Pittsburg, OK8.92,000$100,000
June 75:59 AM CDTEF1Washington, AR8.0900$50,000
June 711:58 AM CDTEF1Chickasaw, MS3.975$200,000
June 73:55 PM CDTEF0Daviess, KY2.125$50,000
June 74:30 PM CDTEF0Spencer, IN0.625$500
June 77:05 PM CDTEF1Jefferson, MO4.9300
June 78:35 PM CDTEF0Saint Francois, MO1.365$25,000
June 79:52 PM CDTEF1Cape Girardeau, MO3.550$110,000
June 710:23 PM CDTEF1Cape Girardeau, MO1.6125$90,000

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.