EF0 tornado, Fittstown to Stonewall, Oklahoma, March 4, 2025

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

March 4, 2025

Touchdown

5:03 AM CST (11:03 UTC)

Lifted

5:12 AM CST (11:12 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

8.8 miles (14.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

County

Pontotoc County

Touchdown point

34.545, -96.726

Lift-off point

34.645, -96.636

Record number

2503040503-01

61 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• Roof/siding damage per news footage
• Part of roof missing off Willard School in Ada (per EM in Slack)
• Mesonet 87 mph gust (at 10 meters)
• Relayed image through OEM Damage Viewer.

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

An intense upper-level trough impacted the WFO Norman Forecast Area during the late evening of the 3rd through the 4th. Initial thunderstorm development occurred along an attendant cold front, moving west to east across the area early in the period. These initial thunderstorms produced reports of large hail and wind damage across western Oklahoma. A few hours later, during the predawn hours of the 4th, a maturing mesoscale convective system (MCS) swept across portions of south-central into southeastern Oklahoma, producing several tornadoes and widespread damaging winds. ||Finally, during daytime hours on the 4th, a strong pressure gradient and low-level jet axis promoted a widespread synoptic high wind episode across the forecast area. As a note, the first, last and highest magnitude wind gusts are those included in this episode for a particular zone (county).

The Fittstown tornado developed just southwest of the Fittstown mesonet station about 7 miles southwest of the town of Fittstown. (The Fittstown mesonet station measured an 87 mph is listed separately) An RV was blown over and an outbuilding damaged near the beginning of the path. The tornado moved northeast damaging trees and producing shingle damage to a home. One other outbuilding was damaged just west of US Highway 377 as the tornado was dissipating.

The Ada Tornado developed on the west side of Ada just west of State Highway 1 near Reeves Road, and moved generally east-northeast down Main Street through central and dissipated on the northeast side of Ada northeast of East Central University and Arlington Center. Numerous homes, businesses, trees and utility poles were damaged along the path. A motel suffered significant roof damage along Main Street. An apartment complex northeast of East Central University received roof damage. One person was injured outside of the motel when the tornado hit.

The Union Valley Tornado developed just east of State Highway 3 along County Road E1600 and moved east-northeast. One home received roof damage, the Union Valley Volunteer Fire Station was heavily damaged and numerous trees were damaged along the path. The tornado dissipated soon after hitting the Union Valley fire station.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:59 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 11:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 10:18 UTC and running to 12:45 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 06:00 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 Norman radar (KTLX), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:01 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

36 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.