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EF1 tornado in Washington County, Arkansas

Tornado May 19, 2025 · Washington County, Arkansas

EF1
Rating
38.2 mi
Whole path
500 yd
Path width
$100K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 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 north of Highway 62, and moved east for a short time. A tornadic debris signature was noted for two minutes from the KSRX WSR-88D. The tornado uprooted trees. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 90 to 100 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 northwestern Arkansas during the evening hours. The atmosphere east of the dry line across northwestern Arkansas 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 severe squall line. Multiple tornadoes and large hail up to quarter size occurred with these thunderstorms across portions of northwestern Arkansas. Locally heavy rainfall also produced some flash flooding.

Began near Lincoln (35.9530, -94.3930).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1264122. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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