EF1 tornado, Garrison to Cheney, Iowa, March 5, 2022

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

March 5, 2022

Touchdown

7:10 PM CST (01:10 UTC)

Lifted

7:26 PM CST (01:26 UTC)

On the ground

16 minutes

Path length

14.0 miles (22.5 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Benton County

Touchdown point

42.111, -92.186

Lift-off point

42.218, -91.955

Record number

2203051910-01

21 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• Hay shed damaged and grain bin blown on its side.

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

Severe thunderstorms tracked across all of eastern Iowa during the late afternoon and evening of Saturday March 5, 2022. Thunderstorms initially developed in southwest Iowa, and moved across central Iowa during the afternoon hours before reaching, our area after 600 PM. Initially, storms produced large hail and tornadoes over central Iowa, before the threat evolved more into damaging winds and tornadoes as storms moved into eastern Iowa and northwest Illinois. Winds around 60-75 MPH were reported from trained spotters and first responders, with confirmed reports of damage in some locations. EF-1 tornadoes occurred near Davenport and Vinton.

A tornado developed about 2.5 miles southwest of Vinton Saturday evening, and tracked northeast through the northwest portion of Vinton, before lifting northeast of town. The tornado was on the ground for about 16 minutes, along a 14 mile path. The maximum tornado width was about 400 yards. The tornado was rated a strong EF-1, with maximum estimated winds around 110 mph. Southwest of Vinton, the tornado snapped numerous power poles and damaged trees and outbuildings. In northwest Vinton, the tornado damaged numerous structures, including mobile homes, houses, and wood frame metal buildings in an industrial park. Numerous residents of the mobile home park that was impacted went to the designated storm shelter built by the city of Vinton. Outdoor warning sirens were activated 3 times before the tornado moved into far northwest Vinton. There were no reported injuries or fatalities. The tornado continued northeast through rural areas, causing tree and outbuilding damage.

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

22 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:48 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:10 UTC and running to 02:51 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:43 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.

Vinton (VTI), 7 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), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:10 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 2022 tornado in IowaEvery tornado in Iowa since 1950Warnings in force in Iowa nowThe forecast where you are

18 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.