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EF0 tornado in Fayette County, Iowa

Tornado July 14, 2021 · Fayette County, Iowa

EF0

Rating

3.2 mi

Whole path

30 yd

Path width

$275K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 30 yards (0.02 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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

An EF0 tornado developed southwest of Oelwein and moved northeast into the city before dissipating. The tornado damaged the ticket booth, fencing and ripped metal siding off of stands at the high school football field. The tornado also blew out the sides of a greenhouse, tipped over the FFA's chicken coop and lifted but did not remove the roof on the main portion of the high school. At a restaurant, an air handler unit was ripped off and windows broken. Some crop and tree damage was noted southwest of the city as well.

The wider storm

Two tornadoes skipped across portions of northeast Iowa during the late afternoon of July 14th. The first tornado impacted areas between Rockford (Floyd County) and Rudd (Floyd County) and to the east before dissipating northwest of Charles City (Floyd County). The most extensive damage occurred to a hog containment building near the end of its path. This tornado was rated an EF-1. The second tornado caused damage in Oelwein (Fayette County) and locations southwest of the city. This tornado ripped an air handler unit off a restaurant and caused damage at the high school football stadium. This tornado was rated an EF-0. The Governor of Iowa issued a disaster proclamation that included Fayette County.

Began near Oelwein Muni Arpt (42.6400, -91.9494).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Floyd County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 971584. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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