EFU Tornado — Woodward, Oklahoma

2025-04-24 · near Mooreland Arpt, Woodward, Oklahoma

Event narrative

Storm chasers for OKC television stations observed a tornado estimated to be about 6 miles west of Freedom, likely in the inaccessible salt flats of the Cimarron River. There was no damage reported to the NWS or emergency management.

Wider weather episode

A cluster of supercell thunderstorms developed along a modified surface boundary across northwestern Oklahoma during the evening of the 24th. While generally weak quasi-zonal flow fostered deep-layer wind shear magnitudes on the fringes for organized thunderstorms, very strong instability and enhanced vorticity along the surface boundary aided in rotating thunderstorms. Very large hail and a few tornadoes occurred with a pair of initially dominant supercell thunderstorms across Woodward and Woods County. Additional development occurred along the southwest flank of initial thunderstorms, with further reports of damaging winds occurring into the evening.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.7820, -99.2340)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1254069. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.