EF1 tornado, Cookson Tenkiller Ar to Westville, Oklahoma, May 19, 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

May 19, 2025

Touchdown

6:47 PM CDT (23:47 UTC)

Lifted

6:58 PM CDT (23:58 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

10.4 miles (16.7 km)

Path width

1,300 yards (1189 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Cherokee and Adair counties

Touchdown point

35.756, -94.916

Lift-off point

35.807, -94.741

Record number

2505191747-01

64 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.

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

Severe thunderstorms developed over central Oklahoma along and ahead of a dry line during the afternoon of the 19th, as an upper level disturbance approached the Southern Plains. These thunderstorms moved northeast off the dry line and across portions of eastern Oklahoma during the mid afternoon and evening hours. The atmosphere east of the dry line across eastern Oklahoma became very unstable during the afternoon and evening, and this instability combined with strong deep-layer and low-level wind shear, resulted in the development of a few supercell thunderstorms and a severe squall line. Multiple tornadoes, large hail slightly larger than golf ball size, and damaging wind gusts occurred with these thunderstorms across eastern Oklahoma. Locally heavy rainfall also produced some localized flash flooding.

This is the first segment of a two segment tornado. The tornado developed south of the 920 Road, where numerous trees were snapped and uprooted, a couple homes were damaged, an outbuilding was destroyed, and power poles were snapped. The tornado moved northeast snapping and uprooting numerous trees and snapping large tree limbs as it moved through rugged terrain into Adair County. It produced a tornadic debris signature from the KSRX WSR-88D. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 105 to 110 mph.

This is the first segment of a two segment tornado. The tornado developed over Lake Tenkiller southwest of Cherokee Landing State Park, and moved northeast. It snapped and uprooted numerous trees at the park, then crossed Highway 82 and Highway 100, where trees were uprooted. The tornado snapped and uprooted numerous trees when it crossed the S Welling Road and the S 600 Road. Trees continued to be uprooted as it crossed the S 610 Road, and then continued into Adair County. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 100 to 110 mph.

This is the second segment of a two segment tornado. The tornado moved into southwestern Adair County near Beaver Mountain, and moved northeast snapping and uprooting numerous trees and snapping large tree limbs as it moved through rugged terrain. It dissipated east of the N 4660 Road, south of the Stilwell City Lake. It produced a tornadic debris signature from the KSRX WSR-88D. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 100 to 110 mph.

This is the second segment of a two segment tornado. The tornado moved east-northeast into Adair County south of the E 830 Road, uprooting trees as it crossed the 4610 Road. The tornado dissipated after crossing the 834 Road, where trees were uprooted. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 95 to 105 mph.

This is the first segment of a two segment tornado. The tornado developed just west of Stilwell City Lake. It moved east-northeast toward Blanch, and then northeast across the west and north sides of Stilwell. The tornado moved across Fairfield and then turned east-northeast before crossing into Washington County, Arkansas. Many trees were uprooted and some were snapped by this tornado, homes were damaged, outbuildings were destroyed, and power poles were blown down. A tornadic debris signature was noted from the KSRX WSR-88D. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 95 to 105 mph.

This is the first segment of a two segment tornado. The tornado developed over inaccessible terrain west of Snake Mountain, just west of state line, where a tornadic debris signature was indicated by the KSRX WSR-88D. Since the damage that produced the radar debris signature was inaccessible, this segment of the tornado was rated EF-unknown.

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

23 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:24 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:05 UTC and running to 23:52 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 19:52 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.

Tahlequah Municipal (TQH), 23 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:47 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

43 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.