EF1 tornado, Eagle Lake, Maine, May 24, 2009

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

May 24, 2009

Touchdown

2:15 PM EDT (18:15 UTC)

Lifted

2:19 PM EDT (18:19 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

2.7 miles (4.4 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Aroostook County

Touchdown point

47.050, -68.650

Lift-off point

47.030, -68.600

Record number

0905241215-01

Severe thunderstorms developed across northern Aroostook county during the afternoon of the 24th in advance of a cold front crossing the region. The thunderstorms produced damaging winds...large hail and a tornado.

A mini-supercell thunderstorm produced an EF1 tornado at the town of Eagle Lake. The tornado began near the Pinette Brook crossing of Convent Road. The tornado was then intermittently on the ground while moving through Eagle Lake...eventually dissipating just before crossing State Route 11. Along the tornado path...hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted in intermittent swaths and patches (DI 27, DOD 4). The tornado also destroyed an outbuilding...moderately damaged one home and caused minor damage to several homes and vehicles. A transport trailer was also overturned. Based on the damage...the tornado winds were estimated at around 110 mph. The average path width was around 150 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.

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 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.

Frenchville (FVE), 36 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Caribou radar (KCBW), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:15 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 2009 tornado in MaineEvery tornado in Maine since 1950Warnings in force in Maine nowThe forecast where you are

7 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.