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EF2 tornado in McCook County, South Dakota

Tornado May 5, 2007 · McCook County, South Dakota

EF2

Rating

10.5 mi

Whole path

400 yd

Path width

$60K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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 damaged a house on the west side of Spencer and caused tree damage before crossing into western Hanson County.

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 Spencer (43.7300, -97.6000).

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 35355. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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