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EF1 tornado in Floyd County, Iowa

Tornado December 15, 2021 · Floyd County, Iowa

EF1

Rating

6.7 mi

Path length

80 yd

Path width

$490K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 80 yards (0.05 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

This tornado formed just north of Marble Rock and moved rapidly to the northeast before dissipating west of Charles City. An NWS survey team determined this tornado to have an EF1 rating. The tornado caused damage to homes, farm buildings and metal grain bins along with taking down power poles, power lines and trees.

The wider storm

An intense storm system moved across the Upper Midwest on December 15th and produced a rare severe weather outbreak across northeast Iowa. Eight tornadoes occurred across parts of Floyd, Chickasaw and Howard Counties. Four of these tornadoes were rated EF1 with one moving through Rudd (Floyd County) where the roof was removed from the library and several homes and a church were heavily damaged. The other tornadoes largely moved through rural areas damaging trees, power lines and farm buildings. In addition to the tornadoes, damaging winds occurred that blew over a semi in Floyd (Floyd County) and damaged numerous homes across the region. The Governor of Iowa declared a state of disaster emergency for Allamakee, Chickasaw, Fayette, Floyd, Howard, Mitchell and Winneshiek Counties. A federal disaster was declared for Floyd, Howard and Mitchell Counties.

Began near Marble Rock (42.9847, -92.8534).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Floyd County EF1 Floyd County EF1 Chickasaw County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 994946. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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