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EF1 tornado in Adair County, Oklahoma

Tornado May 19, 2025 · Adair County, Oklahoma

EF1
Rating
38.2 mi
Whole path
2,200 yd
Path width
$100K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Cherokee County → Adair County → Adair County → Adair County → Washington County, Arkansas → Washington County, Arkansas → Washington County, Arkansas; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 2,200 yards (1.25 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 is the first segment of a two segment tornado. The tornado developed just west of Stilwell City Lake. It moved east-northeast toward Blanch, and then northeast across the west and north sides of Stilwell. The tornado moved across Fairfield and then turned east-northeast before crossing into Washington County, Arkansas. Many trees were uprooted and some were snapped by this tornado, homes were damaged, outbuildings were destroyed, and power poles were blown down. A tornadic debris signature was noted from the KSRX WSR-88D. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 95 to 105 mph.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Lyons (35.7660, -94.7230).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

7 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1264105. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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