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EF1 tornado in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma

Tornado May 24, 2025 · Pontotoc County, Oklahoma

EF1
Rating
2.6 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
$75K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado developed near the community of Vanoss and moved southeast. A home suffered significant roof damage along County Road 3450. Scattered damage was observed by emergency management personnel southeast to near the intersection of County Roads 3470 and 1570.

The wider storm

The approximately 36-hour period, beginning during the initial hours of the 24th, featured three unique severe convective episodes across the WFO Norman Forecast Area. The initial round, triggered by moist isentropic ascent, featured scattered organized thunderstorms, including a few supercell thunderstorms. This activity produced primarily reports of large hail. However, localized storm-scale interactions across Cleveland, Pottawatomie, and Pontotoc Counties resulted in concentrated corridor of thunderstorm wind damage, as well as a tornado near Vanoss, OK, in Pontotoc County. During the same general time frame, a separate organized line of thunderstorms moved from far southern Kansas into north-central Oklahoma producing a few observed severe-caliber wind gusts.

Following the morning activity, dry and pleasant conditions occurred for much of the day on the 24th. However, by near-sunset, a destabilizing boundary layer near and south of a warm front across western and southern Oklahoma fostered the development of a few briefly intense thunderstorms. Finally, a progressive and high-intensity wake low and heat burst event evolved from portions of western-north Texas into central Oklahoma during the late evening of the 24th into the 25th. This event, tied to decaying severe convection from across central Texas, featured strong and occasionally damaging wind gusts.

Began near Vanoss (34.7580, -96.8650).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1261191. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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