EF0 tornado in Clinton County, Iowa

Tornado July 28, 2023 · Clinton County, Iowa

EF0

Rating

1.0 mi

Whole path

20 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Clinton County → Whiteside County, Illinois; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 20 yards (0.01 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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 brief tornado developed in Clinton, IA Friday evening, and moved into Whiteside County Illinois over the Mississippi River, before dissipating near Fulton, IL. The tornado caused sporadic tree damage, including several large trees on the Clinton County courthouse lawn. The tornado was captured on webcam video at the riverfront, where it moved a boat docked near the Candlelight Inn in Clinton. Maximum winds were estimated around 75 mph. The tornado was rated EF0.

The wider storm

Very hot and humid air in place across eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois, and far northeast Missouri interacted with a southward moving frontal boundary and disturbance aloft, setting the stage for development and organization of severe thunderstorms across the region. Storms initially formed from north central Iowa and southern Wisconsin along the frontal boundary, which slowly worked south into the hot, humid air in place across the region. As storms arrived across east central Iowa, they began producing winds around 70 MPH across the Hwy 20 corridor. Another storm to the south further intensified, and began producing winds of 80+ MPH as it tracked along the Hwy 30 corridor. This impacted the northern suburbs of Cedar Rapids into Clinton. These storms continued to produce wind gusts around 60-70 MPH as they progressed into northwest Illinois. One brief EF-0 tornado began in Clinton, Iowa, then moved across the Mississippi River before dissipating near Fulton, Illinois. Damage near Andrew, Iowa in Jackson County was determined to be straight-line winds. Storms additionally produced large hail around the Dubuque metro, with quarter size hail reported.

Began near Clinton (41.8500, -90.1900).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1121326. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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