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EF1 tornado in Union County, South Dakota

Tornado October 4, 2013 · Union County, South Dakota

EF1

Rating

12.4 mi

Whole path

400 yd

Path width

$450K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Dakota County, Nebraska → Union County → Union County → Plymouth County, Iowa; 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 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 crossed the Missouri River from Dakota County in Nebraska and entered Union County. The tornado severely damaged the roof of a house, and collapsed a chimney, carport and porch roof, and the walls of a garage in the same house. The tornado also caused tree damage, including trunks snapped, overturned an irrigation system, and damaged the roof, siding, and/or gutters of at least four other houses.

The wider storm

Thunderstorms produced two tornadoes which tracked over extreme southeast Union County in southeast South Dakota on the late afternoon on October 4th. One tornado crossed over the Missouri River into Union County from Dakota County Nebraska. The other tornado formed in Union County and crossed the Big Sioux River into Plymouth County Iowa. Both tornadoes caused damage.

Began near Mc Cook Lake (42.5140, -96.5750).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 475776. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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