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EF3 tornado in Van Buren County, Iowa

Tornado May 27, 2019 · Van Buren County, Iowa

EF3

Rating

7.3 mi

Path length

100 yd

Path width

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 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

A strong tornado touched down northeast of Cantril and continued east for 17 minutes on a 7.5 mile path. The tornado was 100 yards at its widest. A house and a hunting cabin were destroyed. The damage to the house was due to estimated maximum wind speeds of 140 MPH. As the tornado moved east, outbuildings and trees were downed.

The wider storm

Showers and thunderstorms tracked eastward across parts of eastern Iowa and northern Illinois on Memorial Day 2019 as a low pressure system lifted a warm front through the region.

Some of the storms produced tornadoes during the early to mid afternoon hours. Very heavy rain also fell in a short amount of time in areas. Flash flooding occurred in the Quad Cities metro, with several feet of water on many streets.

Began near Lake Sugema Camp Gd (40.6670, -91.9983).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Lee County EF0 Des Moines County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 826413. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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