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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

800 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 800 yards (0.45 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 the roof and gutters of a house, and the walls and roof of at least two storage equipment buildings. The tornado caused tree damage, including trunks snapped and large branches blown down, damaged a road sign, blew down or crushed several grain bins, blew down power poles and lines, and flattened corn crops. One of the destroyed grain bins was wrapped around a house, causing damage to the roof, siding, and gutters of the house. The tornado then crossed the Big Sioux River into Plymouth County Iowa.

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 Jefferson (42.5700, -96.5562).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 475778. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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