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EF1 tornado in Benton County, Iowa

Tornado July 14, 2021 · Benton County, Iowa

EF1

Rating

5.8 mi

Whole path

560 yd

Path width

$25K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 560 yards (0.32 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 began in Tama County and crossed into Benton County, just south of Dysart, around 6:08 pm CST. As the tornado entered Benton County, the max width was around 560 yards. This includes the main tornado and satellite vortices, which are supported by video evidence. The tornado caused damage to trees and farm outbuildings at a farmstead just over the county line. This damage was rated EF-1, with maximum winds around 100 mph. The tornado then followed an intermittent path to the east-northeast for about 4.5 miles through rural areas, before dissipating.

The wider storm

Severe thunderstorms developed ahead of an approaching cold front during the afternoon and evening of Wednesday, July 14. Some of the storms produced damaging winds and numerous tornadoes. Brief torrential rainfall was also observed with the stronger storm cells. The areas that were hit hardest were in Buchanan, Delaware, Benton, Linn, and Jones counties in IA, where a total of 14 tornadoes occurred. 7 of the tornadoes had no visible damage.

Began near Garrison (42.1610, -92.2993).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Jones County EF1 Jones County EF1 Jones County EF1 Delaware County EF0 Buchanan County EFU Benton County EFU Buchanan County EFU Benton County EFU Benton County EFU Linn County EFU Linn County EFU Delaware County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 993316. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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