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EF3 tornado in Deuel County, South Dakota

Tornado May 30, 2022 · Deuel County, South Dakota

EF3
Rating
13.3 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

A grain bin in a field near 496th Ave and 179th Street was ripped from the base and tossed a mile to the northeast. Roughly three and a half miles northeast on 176th St a farmstead lost several outbuildings and had roof and window damage to the home. Another two miles to the northeast three metal truss transmission towers were damaged, one completely twisted and collapsed. The strongest winds were confined to the area of the transmission towers. Roughly three and a half miles northeast, just north of US Highway 212, a shed was destroyed and a path was noted through a shelterbelt. The very last indications of the tornado was north of 169th Street on 476th Ave where the path was noted through a shelter belt.

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 Bemis (44.7958, -96.8255).

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 1027742. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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