EF2 tornado, Blue Grass to Bryant, Iowa, March 6, 2017

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

March 6, 2017

Touchdown

10:19 PM CST (04:19 UTC)

Lifted

10:46 PM CST (04:46 UTC)

On the ground

27 minutes

Path length

34.7 miles (55.8 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Scott and Clinton counties

Touchdown point

41.599, -90.799

Lift-off point

41.973, -90.350

Record number

1703062219-01

147 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 122 mph.

• Power pole was replaced as well.
• 13 electrical poles snapped
• Numerous power poles snapped.
• Small free standing tower bent over 1/3 from the top.

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

A line of severe storms tracked east over eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois, and northeast Missouri during the evening of March 6th. Widespread winds over 70 mph, small hail, and several tornadoes were reported. Damage from these storms included: downed trees, power poles, destroyed outbuildings, and roof damage to several homes.

This is a continuation of the Tornado that started in Muscatine County. Power poles were snapped, a house was un-roofed, and numerous farm outbuildings and trees were damaged.

Tornado tracked from near Walcott and crossed the Wapsipinicon River into Clinton County and traveled to Goose Lake before lifting. Damage in Scott County was rated EF-1, and consisted primarily of damage to farm outbuildings and trees. Some power lines were snapped. Near Walcott, significant damage occurred to commercial property, several signs and more than a dozen large tow-behind campers were damaged.

This is a continuation of the tornado that touched down in Cedar County. The tornado continued for a path length of over 11 miles in Clinton County producing damage to trees, outbuildings, and power lines.

This is a continuation of the tornado that started in Walcott in Scott County, crossed the Wapsipinicon River into Clinton County, and ended near Goose Lake. Damage was primarily to farm outbuildings and trees. Some power poles were snapped. Max winds were estimated at 115 MPH and the tornado was rated EF2.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:10 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:34 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:55 UTC and running to 05:05 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 00:54 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.

Quad Cities (DVN), 19 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), 19 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:19 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 2017 tornado in IowaEvery tornado in Iowa since 1950Warnings in force in Iowa nowThe forecast where you are

53 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.