EF4 tornado in Wilkin County, Minnesota

Tornado August 7, 2010 · Wilkin County, Minnesota

EF4

Rating

5.0 mi

Whole path

600 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Richland County, North Dakota → Wilkin County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 600 yards (0.34 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF4 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF4 is devastating damage: well-built houses levelled, consistent with estimated gusts of 166–200 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 began in Richland County, North Dakota, at 625 pm CDT, where it had a path length of 2.5 miles. It continued in Wilkin County, Minnesota, where it finally lifted about 2.5 miles southwest of Doran. The total path length was roughly five miles and peak winds were estimated at 175 mph.

The wider storm

By late in the day on the 7th, an east-west lying warm front had set up just north of the South Dakota border, extending eastward into west central Minnesota. South of the warm front, temperatures were in the mid to upper 80s with dew points in the lower 70s. Thunderstorms formed along and north of the warm front and several produced tornadoes.

Began near Doran (46.1300, -96.5630).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Otter Tail County EF1 Grant County EF1 Otter Tail County EF0 Wilkin County EF0 Wilkin County EF0 Otter Tail County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 239948. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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