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EF2 tornado in Benton County, Iowa

Tornado July 17, 2016 · Benton County, Iowa

EF2

Rating

1.6 mi

Path length

100 yd

Path width

Injuries

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 EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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 tracked across the southern parts of Vinton, with damage to over a dozen homes, an apartment complex and other buildings including some roofs removed. Numerous power poles and trees were down with damage to other structures like a cell phone tower and some corn fields.

The wider storm

A nearly stationary frontal boundary spawned a line of thunderstorms that produced numerous reports of damaging winds and isolated tornadoes.

Began near Vinton (42.1531, -92.0327).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Benton County EF1 Jackson County EF1 Scott County EF0 Scott County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 652845. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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