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EF1 tornado in Lee County, Iowa

Tornado May 27, 2019 · Lee County, Iowa

EF1

Rating

0.5 mi

Path length

20 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 20 yards (0.01 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

EF1 tornado touched down south of Houghton striking a metal building. The roof was removed from the building and the winds were estimated at 100 MPH.

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 Houghton (40.7793, -91.6100).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Van Buren County EF0 Des Moines County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 826415. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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