EF2 tornado, Buffalo to Davenport, Iowa, July 11, 2025

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

July 11, 2025

Touchdown

5:03 PM CDT (22:03 UTC)

Lifted

5:13 PM CDT (22:13 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

7.6 miles (12.2 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Scott County

Touchdown point

41.490, -90.730

Lift-off point

41.560, -90.630

Record number

2507111603-01

38 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 120 mph.

• Large RV trailer blown onto its side. Other nearby RVs were undamaged.
• Large RV trailer blown onto its side into nearby trailer.
• Large, tall tress with snapped branches near the trunk behind a residence.
• Multiple large trees snapped behind a residence. Fallen limbs also damaged a chain-link fence.

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

On July 11th, a line of severe thunderstorms moved across eastern Iowa and produced damaging straight-line winds, tornadoes and heavy rain. Rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches fell in a few hours across the Quad Cities, on top of heavy rain from the previous night and caused major flash flooding in Davenport. A Considerable Flash Flood warning was issued at 5:26 PM followed by a Flash Flood Emergency at 6:16 PM.

This quickly strengthening tornado developed southeast of Blue Grass and maintained 100 to 120 mph winds for much of its path into Davenport ending near Kimberly Rd. The most significant damage occurred at an RV sales business and adjacent residential neighborhood near I-280, as well as in and near Emeis Golf Course. Over 15 RVs were blown over, some blown 10 to 15 ft. The largest tipped over RV was 25,000 lbs. It was estimated over 80 moderate to large trees were snapped or uprooted along the path, in some places with high concentration. At least two unoccupied vehicles had trees fall on them. The mas width of the tornado was 500 yards with peak estimated winds of 120 MPH.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:57 UTC and running to 01:00 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:45 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.

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 13 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:03 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 2025 tornado in IowaEvery tornado in Iowa since 1950Warnings in force in Iowa nowThe forecast where you are

13 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.