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EF3 tornado in Towner County, North Dakota

Tornado July 7, 2008 · Towner County, North Dakota

EF3

Rating

20.6 mi

Whole path

75 yd

Path width

Injuries

$1.5M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Rolette County → Towner County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 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

This tornado originated in Rolette County, where it produced EF3 damage near Rolla. It continued into Towner County for about 3 more miles and lifted about 11 miles west-northwest of Rock Lake. It produced mainly EF1 damage to scattered trees and fields in Towner County. Peak winds in Towner County were estimated at 90 mph.

The wider storm

An area of low pressure moved along the Canadian border on Monday (7th) and developed several severe thunderstorms. A triple point, or the intersection of multiple boundaries, formed in north central North Dakota, and resulted in several tornado reports.

Began near Armourdale (48.8600, -99.5300).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Towner County EF0 Steele County EF0 Walsh County EF0 Walsh County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 125536. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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