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EF2 tornado in Hand County, South Dakota

Tornado August 30, 2020 · Hand County, South Dakota

EF2
Rating
1.6 mi
Path length
300 yd
Path width
1
Death
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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

The tornado initially touched down in the pasture land east of South Dakota Highway 45, roughly 0.8 miles south of 184th Street. It continued to track north for roughly 0.6 miles, damaging a tree grove and fence line. The track then turned west northwest and crossed South Dakota Highway 45, roughly 0.2 miles south of 184th street. A southbound RV pulling an enclosed trailer was struck. The trailer detached from the RV and the RV was lofted and rolled roughly 200 yards into a corn field on the west side of of South Dakota Highway 45. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The tornado track continued west northwest through the corn field for an estimated 0.4 miles. The tornado was at its peak width and intensity at this point. Corn was completely flattened in some areas with a distinct convergent pattern. As the tornado weakened and roped out the path took a southwest turn and persisted for roughly another 0.6 miles before coming to an end in the corn field.

The wider storm

A strong cold front pushing across central and northeast South Dakota brought several severe storms to the region. Large hail up to 2 inches in diameter occurred along with a fatal tornado in northern Hand county.

Began near Polo (44.7090, -98.9875).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 915720. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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