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EF0 tornado in Howard County, Iowa

Tornado December 15, 2021 · Howard County, Iowa

EF0

Rating

23.9 mi

Whole path

50 yd

Path width

$1.6M

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 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

This tornado formed in Chickasaw County and moved into Howard County south of Elma along County Line Road just east of the Little Wapsipinicon River. The tornado moved rapidly northeast before dissipating south of Elma. Damage from this EF0 tornado was limited to trees and one farm.

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 Elma (43.2128, -92.4493).

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 Floyd County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 994950. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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