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EF4 tornado in Osceola County, Iowa

Tornado June 25, 2010 · Osceola County, Iowa

EF4
Rating
13.7 mi
Whole path
800 yd
Path width
13
Injuries
$3.5M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 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

A tornado, moving into Osceola County from Lyon County, destroyed at least two houses, injuring two people in one of them. the tornado also destroyed several garages and severely damaged several other homes, destroyed at least 4 hog confinement buildings, several barns and silos, and numerous outbuildings. The tornado destroyed three vehicles that had been parked under an Iowa Highway 60 overpass, injuring 11 people in the vehicles, and removing the engine from one of the vehicles. The tornado damaged power lines, causing power outages, and caused damage to trees and crops. The tornado also destroyed a shelter belt and severely damaged heavy farm equipment, removing the wheels from some of the vehicles. Much of the damage occurred a short distance west to south of the town of Sibley.

The wider storm

Thunderstorms produced tornadoes, one that caused considerable damage and at least two injuries along a 14 mile path, along with damaging winds, in northwest Iowa during the evening of June 25th.

Began near Sibley (43.4040, -95.8605).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 245834. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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