EFU Tornado — Cooke, Texas

2025-05-19 · near Muenster, Cooke, Texas

Event narrative

A tornado was confirmed by chaser video east of Saint Jo on private land. Grass was laid down in a circular pattern in a field, but the tornado dissipated before reaching an area of trees. Video shows the tornado only lasted about 10 seconds. This tornado was rated EF-Unknown.

Wider weather episode

An eastward-surging dryline provided focus for yet another round of strong to severe thunderstorms as an upper level trough swept through the Plains on May 19. Montague County received the majority of the severe weather, as the triple point between the dryline, cold front, and warm front remained stationary near that location for several hours. Storms eventually expanded south, and spread east through the rest of the region late that afternoon and into the evening. Hail up to 4.5 inches was reported in the Saint Jo area in Montague County. In addition, 3 brief tornadoes occurred in counties along the Red River: 1 EF-Unknown, and 2 EF-0s.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.6668, -97.4770)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1265235. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.