EF1 tornado in Sussex County, Delaware

Tornado August 4, 2020 · Sussex County, Delaware

EF1

Rating

2.1 mi

Whole path

400 yd

Path width

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

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 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

A tornado touched down north of the intersection of Shawnee Rd and Old Shawnee Rd in southwest Milford (Sussex County) around 8:25 AM on August

4. Tree damage was found in this area. The tornado initially moved north-northeast as it tracked towards the Kent County line. There was extensive tree damage from Meadow Brook and

Evergreen lanes north to Haven Lake, which divides the two counties. Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped. The tornado remained on the ground as it crossed the lake into Kent County.

The wider storm

Tropical Storm Isaias brought high winds, heavy rain, several tornadoes, and coastal flooding to the mid-Atlantic region, becoming the most impactful tropical cyclone to impact most of the region since Sandy in 2012.

Began near Chestnut Knoll (38.8926, -75.4559).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Kent County EF1 Kent County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 904088. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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