EF3 tornado, Pittsburg to Bond, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

May 19, 2025

Touchdown

5:44 PM CDT (22:44 UTC)

Lifted

6:07 PM CDT (23:07 UTC)

On the ground

23 minutes

Path length

16.0 miles (25.7 km)

Path width

3,000 yards (2743 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$500,000

County

Pittsburg County

Touchdown point

34.665, -95.863

Lift-off point

34.780, -95.630

Record number

2505191644-01

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN and 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 tornado developed approximately 3 miles southwest of the town of Pittsburg near Staples Road. The tornado intensified as it approached Pittsburg Lake. EF-1 to EF-2 damage was done to homes and trees just north of Pittsburg Lake on Indian Trail Road. One person was injured in the most badly damaged home. The tornado continued to grow as it passed just southeast of Pittsburg, where it did EF-1 and EF-2 damage to two homes. The tornado reached its maximum width of 1.7 miles near Blanco. Several homes just south and southwest of Blanco received significant roof damage, and a number of power poles were broken as well. Winds were estimated from 95 mph to 115 mph in these areas. The tornado turned onto a more east-northeast course leaving the immediate Blanco area. During this turn, the most intense winds stayed just south of Blanco proper. The highest rated damage was to trees 2.4 miles east of Blanco, where many trees were stripped of some bark and most branches. This occurred in a forested area where nearly all trees were downed. A rating of EF-3 was assigned to this area, with the wind speeds estimated near 140 mph. The tornado slowly weakened from this point and dissipated 9 miles east-northeast of Blanco.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:20 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 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.

Mc Alester Regional (MLC), 18 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), 141 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:45 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.