EF1 tornado, Allen to Atwood, 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

2:46 PM CDT (19:46 UTC)

Lifted

2:53 PM CDT (19:53 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

4.4 miles (7.1 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$30,000

County

Hughes County

Touchdown point

34.854, -96.393

Lift-off point

34.900, -96.346

Record number

2505191346-01

37 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. 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.

A severe weather outbreak impacted portions of central and eastern Oklahoma, as well as western-north Texas, on the 19th and into the 20th. This marked the third and final day of a multi-day severe weather sequence driven by a strong upper-level system across the Plains. The 19th featured multiple waves of supercell thunderstorms from the late morning through late evening, with the majority of activity posing a threat for large to very large hail and occasional wind damage. While three tornadoes also occurred across the WFO Norman Forecast Area, generally weak low-level wind shear precluded a greater concern for tornadoes during the episode, despite a favorable (supercell) storm mode along with strong instability and deep-layer wind shear. Flooding also became prevalent across southeastern Oklahoma due to repeated rounds of heavy thunderstorm activity over several hours.

This tornado developed in Hughes County to the southeast of Allen and moved generally northeast. Tree damage was observed along the path with significant tree damage along County Roads 1480 and 3725. At least one home and one barn had roof damage.

This tornado affected areas northeast of Allen and southwest of Atwood. Scattered tree damage was observed along the path.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:35 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:05 UTC and running to 00:00 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 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 16:30 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.

Ada_municipal_airport (ADH), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Norman radar (KTLX), 97 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:44 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.