Tornadoes · United States · Iowa · 2010

EF0 tornado, Marcus, Iowa, June 22, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 1.2 miles across Cherokee County on June 22, 2010, touching down at 11:10 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. EF2111 to 135 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
June 22, 2010
Touchdown
11:10 PM CDT (04:10 UTC)
Lifted
11:15 PM CDT (04:15 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
1.2 miles (2.0 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Cherokee County
Touchdown point
42.810, -95.810
Lift-off point
42.820, -95.790
Record number
1006222210-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Thunderstorms produced a variety of severe weather in northwest Iowa from late evening on June 22nd to after midnight on June 23rd. The events included hail, damaging winds, tornadoes, and flash flooding.

A tornado caused no reported damage.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

20 minutes of warning. NWS FSD issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:50 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 01:00 UTC and running to 08:56 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:00 UTC08:58 UTCFlash Flood WatchFSD
01:00 UTC08:56 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchFSD
03:48 UTC04:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSD
03:50 UTC04:15 UTCTornado WarningFSD
04:10 UTC05:00 UTCTornado WarningFSD
04:35 UTC05:00 UTCTornado WarningFSD
04:40 UTC05:15 UTCTornado WarningFSD
04:47 UTC05:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSD
05:11 UTC05:38 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSD

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z

4.2 hours before the tornado, 173 km from the path. June 23, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2010-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 4767 joules per kilogram, CIN -7, lifted condensation level 1098 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2010-06-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 84 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
4767 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Surface CAPE
6788 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1098 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
220 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
4.7
Supercell composite
27.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 12:00Z

7.8 hours after it, 173 km from the path. June 23, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2010-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 82 joules per kilogram, CIN -97, lifted condensation level 1036 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2010-06-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -62 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
82 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-97 J/kg
Surface CAPE
321 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1036 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-29 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:11 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
03:00 UTCHAIL 1.75Battle CreekIda, IA
03:53 UTCHAIL 1.252 Sw MarcusCherokee, IA
04:02 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 Sw MarcusCherokee, IA
04:02 UTCTORNADO3 S MarcusCherokee, IAPOSSIBLE TORNADO ON THE GROUND
04:10 UTCTORNADO1 S MarcusCherokee, IATORNADO ON THE GROUND
04:15 UTCTORNADO1 E MarcusCherokee, IATORNADO ON GROUND
04:25 UTCTORNADO3 S PaullinaO'Brien, IABRIEF TOUCH DOWN
04:30 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD1 S CraigPlymouth, IA
04:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 604 Sw CraigPlymouth, IA
04:45 UTCTSTM WND GST 605 E StrublePlymouth, IA
04:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 W Le MarsPlymouth, IAPOWER POLES PUSHED OVER BY STRONG THUNDERSTORM WINDS AT HIGHWAY 3 AND JET ROAD.
04:55 UTCTSTM WND GST 605 E StrublePlymouth, IA
04:55 UTCTSTM WND GST 703 E StrublePlymouth, IASOME TREE DAMAGE
05:10 UTCFLASH FLOODHawardenSioux, IAWATER OVER THE CURBS
05:10 UTCTSTM WND GST 70Ssw GreenvilleClay, IANUMEROUS BRANCHES DOWN UP TO 1 FOOT IN DIAMETER
05:30 UTCFLASH FLOODOrange CitySioux, IAHIGHWAY 10 AT ORANGE CITY UNDER WATER FOR AROUND 1 HOUR. CREEKS IN THE AREA SWELLED TO 1/2 MILE WIDE.
05:30 UTCFLASH FLOODSioux CenterSioux, IASTREET FLOODING

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in IowaEvery tornado in Iowa since 1950Warnings in force in Iowa nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 22, 2010

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 224:30 PM EDTEF0Lebanon, PA0.150$10,000
June 224:42 PM MDTEF0Banner, NE0.530
June 225:06 PM MDTEF0Banner, NE0.530
June 225:18 PM MDTEF0Banner, NE0.530
June 225:38 PM MDTEF0Weston, WY0.030
June 226:20 PM MDTEF0Sheridan, NE0.010
June 228:30 PM EDTEF1Bradford, PA1.0250$100,000
June 229:12 PM CDTEF0Humboldt, IA0.935
June 229:15 PM CDTEF0Sac, IA0.830
June 2210:25 PM CDTEF0Wright, IA2.050
June 2211:25 PM CDTEF0O'Brien, IA0.150

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.