EF2 tornado, Wayland to Crawfordsville, Iowa, May 3, 2012

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF2

Date

May 3, 2012

Touchdown

8:40 PM CDT (01:40 UTC)

Lifted

9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

6.7 miles (10.8 km)

Path width

440 yards (402 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.0 million

Counties

Henry and Washington counties

Touchdown point

41.136, -91.670

Lift-off point

41.203, -91.578

Record number

1205031940-01

22 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 135 mph.

• .house completly un-roofed, all windows gone, garage completly destroyed, all trees were severely damaged. distinct debris trail of crumbled debris leading to and away from this site. 2 horses injured, 1 missing.
• .2 turkey buildings totally destroyed, another collapsed, tree damage with debris seen southwest of site on hill
• .partially moved half full grain bin lifted off foundation
• .total destruction of shed builiding with a combine inside. Combine damaged as well

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms developed quickly over eastern Iowa during the early evening hours of May 3, 2012. The thunderstorms quickly became severe, producing large hail and strong winds. A thunderstorm moving northeast through Henry and Washington Counties produced a tornado that was rated EF2 by an NWS storm survey team. Damages along the track of the tornado were estimated to be about $1 million.||In addition to the severe weather, the thunderstorms were also associated with heavy rainfall. Rainfall amounts ranged from 1 inch in Johnson County, Iowa to 5 inches in Washington County. Thunderstorms lingered over southeastern Iowa past midnight but did not produce additional large hail or strong winds.

The tornado began near 120th street near Wayland in Henry County and moved northeast to near Crawfordsville in Washington County. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 10 minutes in Henry County. Damage along the path of the tornado included: several farm outbuildings destroyed, roof damage to homes, trees snapped, and power poles damaged. The most severe damage occurred near and to the northeast of Noble (Washington County) where several turkey farms sustained extensive damage and two large wooden truss power poles were snapped off. Two homes between Noble and Crawfordsville had the roof removed as well as the exterior walls on the upper floor. One of the homes had a car lofted and tumbled across the yard.

The tornado began near 120th street near Wayland in Henry County and moved into Washington County near Noble and lifted near Crawfordsville. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 10 minutes in Washington County. Damage along the path of the tornado included: several farm outbuildings destroyed, roof damage to homes, trees snapped, and power poles damaged. The most severe damage occurred near and to the northeast of Noble (Washington County) where several turkey farms sustained extensive damage and two large wooden truss power poles were snapped off. Two homes between Noble and Crawfordsville had the roof removed as well as the exterior walls on the upper floor. One of the homes had a car lofted and tumbled across the yard.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:27 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:10 UTC and running to 05:57 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:28 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 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.

Washington (AWG), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 100 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:40 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in IowaEvery tornado in Iowa since 1950Warnings in force in Iowa nowThe forecast where you are

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.

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