Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2025

EF1 tornado, LeFlore County, Oklahoma, May 19, 2025

This EF1 tornado ran 11.9 miles across LeFlore County on May 19, 2025, touching down at 7:21 PM CDT and reaching 1,100 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
May 19, 2025
Touchdown
7:21 PM CDT (00:21 UTC)
Lifted
7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)
On the ground
14 minutes
Path length
11.9 miles (19.1 km)
Path width
1,100 yards (1006 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
LeFlore County
Touchdown point
35.102, -94.746
Lift-off point
35.191, -94.568
Record number
2505191821-02

The damage survey

29 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.

The forecast that day

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 surface observations

Robert S Kerr Airport/Poteau (RKR), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 31 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:21 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.

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 May 19, 2025

43 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 192:46 PM CDTEF1Hughes, OK4.4600$30,000
May 192:53 PM CDTEF0Hughes, OK1.840$2,000
May 195:03 PM CDTEF1Cherokee, OK2.6600$20,000
May 195:29 PM CDTEF1Dodge, NE1.770
May 195:37 PM CDTEF1Atoka, OK1.0400
May 195:44 PM CDTEF3Pittsburg, OK16.03,0001$500,000
May 195:50 PM CDTUnratedPawnee, NE2.150
May 196:02 PM CDTUnratedCooke, TX0.130
May 196:14 PM CDTEF1Pittsburg, OK11.11,500$150,000
May 196:22 PM CDTEF1Muskogee, OK9.5900$85,000
May 196:31 PM CDTEF1Pittsburg, OK0.3100
May 196:42 PM CDTEF0Wabaunsee, KS0.440
May 196:44 PM CDTEF1Cherokee, OK12.31,100$50,000
May 196:47 PM CDTEF1Cherokee, OK10.41,300
May 196:55 PM CDTEF1Adair, OK to AR16.72,200$50,000
May 196:55 PM CDTEF1St. Clair, MO to OK, AR4.650$150,000
May 197:11 PM CDTEF1Adair, OK to AR8.21,000
May 197:15 PM CDTEF1Henry, MO3.5200
May 197:20 PM CDTEF1Washington, AR11.6900$100,000
May 197:21 PM CDTEF1Washington, AR1.0500
May 197:24 PM CDTEF1Benton, MO1.3500$115,000
May 197:28 PM CDTEF1Benton, MO4.3500$148,000
May 197:29 PM CDTEF2Washington, AR13.61,100$1.0 million
May 197:34 PM CDTEF1Sebastian, OK to AR21.41,000$1.5 million
May 197:35 PM CDTEF1Benton, MO4.4300$160,000
May 197:54 PM CDTEF1Madison, AR14.3900$100,000
May 197:56 PM CDTEF1Madison, AR2.4550$60,000
May 198:02 PM CDTUnratedJefferson, MO2.41
May 198:11 PM CDTEF1Carroll, AR7.22,300
May 198:21 PM CDTEF1Carroll, AR4.21,000$30,000
May 198:32 PM CDTEF0Buchanan, MO4.320
May 198:56 PM CDTEF1Washington, MO2.850
May 1910:18 PM CDTEF1Dent, MO6.450$30,000
May 1910:20 PM CDTEF0Dent, MO1.075$80,000
May 1910:20 PM CDTEF0Fannin, TX1.475
May 1910:21 PM CDTEF0Dent, MO4.350$55,000
May 1910:28 PM CDTEF0Dent, MO1.950$25,000
May 1910:39 PM CDTEF0Washington, MO2.2140
May 1910:40 PM CDTEF0Reynolds, MO1.650
May 1910:50 PM CDTEF1Crawford, MO1.0270$60,000
May 1911:31 PM CDTEF1Saint Francois, MO4.2500$30,000
May 1912:02 AM CDTEF0Sainte Genevieve, MO1.325
May 1912:21 AM CDTEF1Randolph, IL0.525$30,000

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.