EF2 Tornado — Codington, South Dakota

2025-07-27 · near Henry, Codington, South Dakota

Event narrative

A tornado tracked for nearly four miles over approximately 21 minutes, leaving a path of significant damage. The event began around 5:55 PM CDT when the tornado touched down in an open field between 168th and 169th Streets, just to the west of 442nd Avenue. The tornado initially tracked to the east, and by about 6:02 PM, it crossed 442nd Avenue. The tornado then turned and started tracking south. The core of the tornado passed about 150 yards to the west of a farmstead, but at approximately 6:03 PM, the tornado was close enough to the farm to start causing significant damage. In fact, video evidence shows debris being lofted into the air before the tornado made its closest approach. The main residence was completely destroyed. An attached garage was dislodged and swept clean from its cement foundation; however, a vehicle in the driveway did not move. The remainder of the house lost its entire roof and many exterior walls, though many interior walls remained standing. One outbuilding was completely destroyed, and many others sustained significant damage. Along the southern edge of the property, a line of nine grain bins was completely swept away. The residents were not home at the time of the tornado, but a beloved horse was killed. At 6:06 PM, the tornado crossed 169th Street and continued south through cropland. Aerial photos revealed that between 169th and 170th Streets, the tornado ripped through several rows of erosion shelterbelt trees. Trees in the path were void of branches, snapped at their bases, and in some spots, reduced to nothing more than stubs. Continuing south, the tornado crossed 170th Street around 6:11 PM and continued across a lake and more cropland, eventually crossing 171st Street. By approximately 6:16 PM, the tornado weakened and dissipated just north of 172nd Street, bringing its 21-minute duration to an end. The tornado was rated an EF2 with peak winds estimated at 135 mph.

Wider weather episode

An afternoon thunderstorm developed near the town of Henry and very quickly spun up a violent tornado. This tornado would cause significant damage to a farmstead before dissipating. The storm would go on to produce large hail, up to the size of baseballs near Lake Kampeska, with numerous additional reports of golf-ball sized hail, in and around the city of Watertown. The Watertown Automated Surface Observing System recording a peak wind gust of 71 mph.

Heavy rainfall from persistent re-development of storms over the area into the late evening hours would go on to produce flooding in the Big Sioux basin. The COOP observers in Castlewood, Rauville and Watertown would pick up 5.61, 3.68 and 2.06 inches respectively.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.9438, -97.3777)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1282514. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.