EF1 tornado, Arpelar to North Mc Alester, Oklahoma, June 7, 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

June 7, 2025

Touchdown

5:52 AM CDT (10:52 UTC)

Lifted

6:01 AM CDT (11:01 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

8.9 miles (14.3 km)

Path width

2,000 yards (1829 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Pittsburg County

Touchdown point

34.967, -95.909

Lift-off point

34.955, -95.755

Record number

2506070452-01

25 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 107 mph.

• Thanks to McAlester-Pittsburg County Emergency Management for the picture.

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 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.

A line of thunderstorms approaching McAlester rapidly organized and developed a strong push of wind as it approached Pyle Mountain. Those winds contributed to the development of a large squall line circulation (QLCS), and resulted in the development of a tornado near Pyle Mountain. The tornado traveled east-southeast, crossing the Indian Nation Turnpike, and moved into the area around the State Penitentiary. Minor damage occurred at the McAlester-Pittsburg County Emergency Operations Center. The strong push of wind, which initially contributed to the development of the tornado, strengthened further and became the dominate feature. The tornado dissipated in north McAlester after crossing north Main Street. It uprooted numerous trees, and damaged homes, buildings and businesses. 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.

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.

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 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 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.

Mc Alester Regional (MLC), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 137 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:54 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

11 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.