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EF0 tornado in Ringgold County, Iowa

Tornado May 26, 2013 · Ringgold County, Iowa

EF0
Rating
0.1 mi
Path length
30 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 30 yards (0.02 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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 brief tornado touchdown occurred.

The wider storm

The continued series of thunderstorms moved across Iowa during the afternoon of the 26th and through the overnight hours of the 26th into the 27th. A stationary front remained in place from central Nebraska into northern Missouri. The front aloft remained over Iowa, setting the stage for repeated thunderstorm development. The parameters changed little from the previous event. A weakly sheared atmosphere was in place with 25 to 30 kts of shear available. CAPE values were slightly higher, in the 1000 to 2000 J/kg range. Downdraft CAPE ranged from under 400 J/kg over the east part of the CWA to 800 J/kg over the west. A substantial inversion was in place over most of the Des Moines CWA. CAPE in the -10 to -30 C layer of the atmosphere was relatively low, only 200 to 400 J/kg. Precipitable water values were in the 1.3 to 1.6 inch range, or over 2 standard deviations above normal. Thunderstorms from the previous night weakened, only to be replaced by a new round of thunderstorms that developed over northwest Iowa by mid day on the 26th. These storms moved southeast across the state, producing heavy rain across many of the areas that received heavy rainfall the night before. Highway closings were too numerous to mention with many small creeks overflowing their banks and causing flash flooding. There were several reports of road washouts and bridges being washed out. A man driving a SUV was swept away by swift flood waters Monday morning on Westbrook Street in Butler County west of Parkersburg. Severe weather was limited. The storms produced half dollar size hail in Taylor County. Hail also fell in Humboldt and Polk Counties. A funnel cloud was reported in Taylor County as well. One brief tornado touchdown was reported southwest Diagonal in Ringgold County. On the morning of the 27th, as the second MCS decayed, high winds occurred over a small part of north central into central Iowa as a wake low formed. Winds gusted to 58 MPH in Polk County at Ankeny. An RWIS site in Marshall County at Marshalltown recorded a 60 MPH wind gust. Wind damage occurred in Boone County and Hardin Counties. Sustained winds of 40 to 45 MPH were reported in Jasper and Story Counties. Scattered reports of outbuilding and tree damage were received.

Began near Diagonal (40.7901, -94.3705).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 442501. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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