Home / North Dakota / Towner

EF1 tornado in Towner County, North Dakota

Tornado July 7, 2008 · Towner County, North Dakota

EF1

Rating

12.0 mi

Whole path

150 yd

Path width

$250K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 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

This tornado produced an intermittent damage path of nearly 11 total miles, and ended about one mile north-northeast of Munich in Cavalier County by 428 pm CDT. The tornado only traveled about 5 miles due east in Towner County and mainly damaged crops and power lines. The tornado crossed into Cavalier County around 418 pm CDT at a point about 4 miles north and 6 miles east of Egeland. Peak wind speeds were estimated at 100 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 Crocus (48.6900, -99.0900).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Rolette County EF0 Steele County EF0 Walsh County EF0 Walsh County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 125538. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.