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EF2 tornado in Linn County, Iowa

Tornado July 17, 2016 · Linn County, Iowa

EF2

Rating

4.0 mi

Whole path

75 yd

Path width

Injuries

$275K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Benton County → Linn County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 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 from Benton County continued southeast through southeastern portions of Walford. The tornado damaged the roofs of numerous homes. One home was completely destroyed when it collapsed on itself, apparently aided by wind blown debris.

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 Fairfax (41.8785, -91.8316).

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 654436. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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