Thunderstorm Wind — Mccurtain, Oklahoma

2025-05-24 · near Bethel, Mccurtain, Oklahoma

Event narrative

Trees were blown down along Highway 259 near the triangle in the Bethel community.

Wider weather episode

Upper level ridging was centered over Northern Old Mexico and much of Texas during the morning of May 24th, resulting in a northwesterly flow aloft farther north across much of Oklahoma and Arkansas. A weak shortwave trough embedded in the northwest flow resulted in surface low development along the dryline in West Texas, with large scale forcing ahead of this trough resulting in the development of a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) over Western and Central Oklahoma during the early morning hours. A southerly low level jet, typical for this time of year in this flow pattern, sustained this thunderstorm complex as it shifted east-southeast into Southeast Oklahoma after daybreak, which moved across Northern McCurtain County before weakening as it moved into Western Arkansas. As a result, damaging winds downed multiple trees near the Bethel community before exiting the county into Polk County Arkansas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.3480, -94.8166)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1265126. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.