EF0 Tornado — Lincoln, South Dakota

2025-07-28 · near Lennox Skie Arpt, Lincoln, South Dakota

Event narrative

Drone images confirmed what was observed on Copernicus Sentinel data 2025 with a narrow path of downed crops, which started around 8 miles east-southeast of Davis west of 486th Avenue around one-third of a mile south of 287th Street. The tornado raced southeast for a little less than 2 miles before it caused some minor tree damage on a farmstead along 469th Avenue north of 289th Street. The tornado continued southeast for another minute or so before lifting just west of 470th Avenue around one-quarter of a mile north of 290th Street. The tornado was rated EF0 with an estimated maximum wind gust of 85 mph. The average path width was 20 yards.

Wider weather episode

Two distinct supercell clusters developed across central South Dakota during the late afternoon of July 28 within a highly unstable environment (MUCAPE up to 5000 J/kg) ahead of an eastward advancing surface front. The southern supercell cluster produced three tornadoes across Gregory County, the strongest of which was rated EF2.

Scattered severe wind gusts were reported across southeast South Dakota as the thunderstorms moved east before the two clusters merged near and south of Sioux Falls. Aided by increasing deep layer shear from the north, a linear structure rapidly developed with a derecho racing eastward into northwest Iowa. Winds gusted from 80 to 100 mph along the derecho's path with widespread tree and structural damage across the area. In addition, three embedded short-lived tornadoes were documented within the line of thunderstorms.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.2240, -96.8500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1288207. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.