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EF1 tornado in Ida County, Iowa

Tornado April 9, 2011 · Ida County, Iowa

EF1

Rating

4.2 mi

Path length

200 yd

Path width

$100K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 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

A tornado severely damaged a farmstead; taking the roof off of a house and destroying numerous outbuildings. The tornado also damaged outbuildings at another farmstead, snapped at least 5 power poles, and damaged an outbuilding at an ethanol plant. The tornado also caused tree damage.

The wider storm

Thunderstorms produced widespread severe weather in northwest Iowa during the evening of April 9th, beginning at the end of the afternoon. Most of the reports at the start of the event were large hail, but damaging winds and tornadoes then developed, with significant damage reported.

Began near Galva (42.4364, -95.4499).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Sac County EF2 Ida County EF1 Cherokee County EF0 Buena Vista County EF0 Buena Vista County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 301876. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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