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EF0 tornado in Benton County, Washington

Tornado May 21, 2016 · Benton County, Washington

EF0

Rating

0.1 mi

Path length

100 yd

Path width

$20K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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

We received a cell phone video captured from the general public that showed swirling motion at the surface.

The wider storm

A fairly short-lived thunderstorm intensified quickly and spun up a brief EF0 tornado that quickly dissipated. Very heavy rain and some localized flash flooding occurred in downtown Kennewick with this storm. Some reports of near the proximity of the tornado were: trees down and 0.75 inch hail.

Began near Kennewick Vista Arpt (46.2000, -119.1700).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 630791. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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