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Tornado in Pocahontas County, Iowa

Tornado May 31, 2024 · Pocahontas County, Iowa

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Not rated

0.4 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.

Not rated. NOAA lists no rating for this tornado. Ratings come from surveying damage, and the National Weather Service now records “EFU” (unknown) when a tornado hit nothing a survey team could rate.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Two different spotters sent in pictures of this tornado. It was a brief tornado just southwest of Varina near the county line. This tornado remained in rural areas and did not impact any damage indicators, hence the EFU rating.

The wider storm

A weak cold front passed across the area on May 31st. Instability was modest along with rather weak shear, so more widespread severe storms did not occur. However, as storms initiated early in the day near the front a weak tornado was observed.

Began near Varina (42.6326, -94.9115).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1172278. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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