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EF2 tornado in Deuel County, South Dakota

Tornado May 30, 2022 · Deuel County, South Dakota

EF2
Rating
12.4 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

The first indications of tornado damage were just east of Interstate 29 near 186th Street. A farm had mangled tree branches through the tops of the shelter belt, a destroyed outbuilding, a west facing garage door and garage rafters bowed in and three pickups with the back windows broken out. The track continued a quarter mile to the north, where a second farm had uprooted trees, complete destruction of a machine shed and a collapsed barn. The main residence also had loss of shingles and the loss of a small portion of roof panels. The track continued northeast. The next residence to sustain damage was near 772nd Ave and 181st St. The tornado entered the farm from the west where it uprooted several trees and broke branches off the tops of others, a third of a roughly 300 foot long milk barn was leveled, one stave silo completely collapsed and a second was razed about half way to the base. Further east on the property a shelter belt was managed and an empty grain bin was tossed east northeast about a quarter mile into the neighboring field. An outbuilding south of the property also collapsed. Just shy of a mile to the northeast along 473rd Ave a machine shed buckled on the southwest side. Another quarter mile to the northeast another farm sustained significant damage. On this farm a tornado path was noted through the trees on the west side of house. Trees were uprooted and one tree twisted counter clockwise. On the main residence eight sheets of plywood were ripped off the roof and insulation was blown out of the attic. Roof material was found in trees and debris spread 200 or 300 yards to the north northeast. Residents were in the basement at the time and noticed that their ears popped. They also noted that water was drained from toilets and plumbing traps after the storm. Power lines were downed near 474th Ave. Another several miles to the northeast, near 179th Street and 475th Ave, another farm sustained significant damage. On the south side of the property several pieces of farm equipment were moved, tipped or tossed and a grain bin was dented. Trees were uprooted south of the house and the house sustained window damage. Walls collapsed on both a barn and machine shed on the property. Another smaller shed was also destroyed. A path of debris was noted about a quarter mile northeast of the property. The last property damaged by the tornado was located at 177th Street and US Highway 15. This property had tree damage and lost a shed.

The wider storm

Storms redeveloped in the late morning, with supercell characteristics across eastern South Dakota producing up to one inch diameter hail and winds of 70 mph, in addition to 6 confirmed tornadoes, one of which was rated EF3. Heavy rain also occurred with this system, with the greatest amount of rainfall measured by a CoCoRaHS observer being 4.69 inches measured near Columbia, and the highest COOP observer report coming out of Milbank with a two day total of 2.86. This heavy rain resulted in flooding in several rural locations but also included parts of Watertown and Aberdeen.

Began near Clear Lake (44.6822, -96.8239).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1027706. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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