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EF0 tornado in Sioux County, Iowa

Tornado August 5, 2023 · Sioux County, Iowa

EF0

Rating

0.9 mi

Path length

30 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 30 yards (0.02 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 highly visible tornado developed a quarter mile south of Iowa Highway 10 just to the east of Goldfinch Avenue. The slow-moving tornado was photographed by several members of the public as it tracked generally a bit south of due eastward. Very soon after touching down, the tornado impacted a shelter belt where it did damage to several hardwood trees. After a quarter mile, the tornado track shifted slightly toward the east-northeast across open farmland. The tornado crossed Grant Avenue and lifted shortly thereafter. The average path width was 25 yards. The tornado was rated an EF-0 with a maximum wind speed of 75 mph.

The wider storm

An outflow boundary from earlier day convection focused a gradient of instability and storm development with additional destabilization from heating by early afternoon. Boundary interactions from sluggish storms led to training of heavy rainfall cores, as well as a couple brief tornadoes. Extensive flooding resulted in a state disaster declaration for Sioux County.

Began near Maurice (42.9930, -96.2100).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EFU Sioux County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1129839. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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