EF2 Tornado — Mckenzie, North Dakota

2018-07-09 · near Watford City, Mckenzie, North Dakota

Event narrative

About 135 people were displaced from their homes. One fatality occurred and 28 people were injured, about 13 of them seriously. Based on the damage the tornado was rated EF2 and from that winds were estimated to have been around 127 mph.

This tornado developed just to the west of a large recreational vehicle, camper, and mobile home park on the southwest side of Watford City. The tornado passed through the park causing extensive and severe damage to over 100 recreational vehicles, campers, and single wide manufactured homes. Power poles were snapped and other non-occupied buildings were damaged and some destroyed, including a well-built pole barn. Many vehicles were damaged, some totaled.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms moved from southeast Saskatchewan into northeast Montana, and then into northwest North Dakota where the environment was rich in low level moisture with enhanced deep and low level shear. Initially, supercell thunderstorms produced very large hail up to the size of tennis balls over Williams County before transitioning to a hail and wind threat with reported wind gusts around 62 mph as the storms approached McKenzie County. A mix of severe wind and hail occurred in McKenzie County before a tornado developed along a line of strong wind just to the west of a large recreational vehicle, camper, and mobile home park on the southwest side of Watford City. About 135 people were displaced from their homes. One fatality occurred and 28 people were injured, about 13 of them seriously. Based on the damage the tornado was rated EF2 and from that winds were estimated to have been around 127 mph. The tornado passed through the park causing extensive and severe damage to over 100 recreational vehicles, campers, and single wide manufactured homes. Power poles were snapped and other non-occupied buildings were damaged and some destroyed, including a well-built pole barn. Many vehicles were damaged, some totaled.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (47.7814, -103.2950)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 766986. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.