EF2 tornado in McKenzie County, North Dakota

Tornado July 9, 2018 · McKenzie County, North Dakota

EF2

Rating

0.5 mi

Path length

400 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$3.5M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 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

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.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Watford City (47.7814, -103.2950).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 766986. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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