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EF3 tornado in Aurora County, South Dakota

Tornado May 5, 2007 · Aurora County, South Dakota

EF3

Rating

4.0 mi

Path length

200 yd

Path width

$300K

Damage as recorded

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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 EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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 destroyed a hunting lodge and nearby outbuildings. The tornado also severely damaged a house, tossed a trailer 100 yards, and caused tree damage.

The wider storm

Numerous thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening of May 5th produced large hail, damaging winds, several tornadoes, and flash flooding in southeast South Dakota. Significant damage was reported from several locations.

Began near Plankinton (43.6791, -98.4234).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 34988. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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