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EF1 tornado in Grundy County, Iowa

Tornado March 31, 2023 · Grundy County, Iowa

EF1
Rating
4.1 mi
Path length
80 yd
Path width
$50K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 80 yards (0.05 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

Two tornadoes developed in parallel to the north of Wellsburg. This southern track tornado damaged a grain bin along with surrounding trees and outbuilding, then later damaged powerline poles.

The wider storm

An intense storm system tracked across the state of Iowa on Friday, March 31st. This system pulled unseasonably warm and moist conditions into the Midwest, which coupled with a very favorable wind profile and created quite the volatile environment for severe thunderstorms. This produced several long lived supercells which developed across central Iowa during the afternoon. The storms were prolific hail producers along with a few reports of wind damage as they moved rapidly northeast. Eventually, the storms produced a few tornadoes before exiting into eastern Iowa.

Began near Wellsburg (42.4742, -92.9402).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1087591. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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