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EF2 tornado in Lincoln County, South Dakota

Tornado September 10, 2019 · Lincoln County, South Dakota

EF2
Rating
1.5 mi
Whole path
50 yd
Path width
8
Injuries
$8.0M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 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 touched down around one quarter mile east of the intersection of Interstates 29 and 229, near the intersection of 69th Street and Tallgrass Avenue. The tornado tracked east-northeast for a quarter mile before it struck a building under construction, causing extensive damage to concrete and metal framing, and tossed a construction truck 200 yards into a tree. The tornado then damaged the Avera Heart and Behavioral Hospital Complex, where cars were displaced up to 100 feet and most windows were broken along with roof and facade damage to the hospital buildings. Eight people were injured by flying glass on the hospital complex. The tornado lifted about 400 yards to the east of the hospital. Average path width was estimated at 40 yards. Property damage costs are rough estimates.

The wider storm

A frontal boundary provided focus for convective development across south central South Dakota during the very late afternoon and early evening as a strong impulse moved in the southwest flow aloft. Initial discrete cells produced spotty hail and damaging wind, with MLCAPE values around 1500-2000 J/kg and 45-55 knots of deep-layer shear. As cells spread eastward and developed into a line, the increase in low-level jet during the evening quickly increased the 0-3 km shear to 35-40 knots. Three QLCS tornadoes occurred within the city limits of Sioux Falls. In addition to the tornadoes, widespread wind damage to trees and spottier damage to residences were reported across much of the city. A total of nine people were injured in the storms around Sioux Falls. Repeated cells resulted in flash flooding by later evening and into the overnight hours.

Began near Tea (43.4904, -96.7875).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 857477. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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