EF0 tornado, Durant, Iowa, March 14, 2025

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

March 14, 2025

Touchdown

8:49 PM CDT (01:49 UTC)

Lifted

8:51 PM CDT (01:51 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.9 miles (3.0 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Cedar County

Touchdown point

41.598, -90.998

Lift-off point

41.620, -90.990

Record number

2503141949-01

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

• Shingles gone from south and east aspects. Also tree branches down at location
• Part of roof on west side gone and south side sofit damage.
• Rotted tree uprooted, therefore lowered speed. Multiple others trees down.
• 4 outbuildings with either roofs removed, walls collapsed or partial walls removed. Rating based on worst damage.

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

A strong storm system impacted the forecast area on March 14, resulting in a multitude of hazards seen through the afternoon and evening. Through the late morning and afternoon hours, the storm system created quite the strong wind field throughout much of the Midwest, resulting in widespread strong winds gusting upwards to 40-55 mph through the day. These very strong winds combined with dry antecedent conditions led to a very high fire danger area-wide, prompting a Red Flag Warning. Several fires resulted from these conditions, with gusty winds aiding the spread of the fires.||Later in the day, the system brought a line of showers and severe thunderstorms through the area. While lightning activity remained on the low-end, convection that developed was able to mix down the strong winds aloft, resulting in damaging winds. Widespread 60-80 mph winds were reported, with some locations seeing over 80 mph winds. Numerous power outages were reported throughout the area. These thunderstorm winds also caused damage to trees, structures, and power poles/lines. In Johnson County Iowa, lightning struck a field of timber, resulting in a fire. The strong winds helped to expand the fire to 25 acres. One EF-0 tornado occurred just northeast of Wilton, IA. The tornado occurred between 8:49-8:51 PM Friday evening, with estimated peak winds of 85 mph and a path length of 1.9 miles.

A fast moving EF-0 tornado begun on the Muscatine/Cedar counties line. Causing roof damage, tree damage and eventually damage to farm outbuildings. The tornado had wind speeds of 85 MPH and at its widest was 50 yards.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:56 UTC and running to 03:37 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 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.

Muscatine (MUT), 30 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), 34 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:47 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

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.