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EF3 tornado in Traill County, North Dakota

Tornado August 27, 2016 · Traill County, North Dakota

EF3
Rating
3.0 mi
Path length
300 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

The tornado destroyed a two car garage and snapped or uprooted numerous trees northwest of the Taft elevator. It crossed Interstate 29 near Taft and tore down filled grain bins, elevator legs, and tore the roofing off the office. It then tore the roof off and caved in the walls of a well built home east of the elevator complex. Peak winds were estimated at 140 mph.

The wider storm

By the afternoon of August 27th, temperatures across most of the area had risen into the 70s, along with dew points around 60 F. A fairly strong upper level disturbance also moved into the area. Thunderstorms broke out over the southern Red River Valley in the early afternoon, then expanded north and east through the rest of the afternoon and early evening. The thunderstorms mainly dropped large hail, but a few tornadoes also occurred.

Began near Taft (47.4900, -97.1000).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 649103. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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