Tornadoes · United States · North Dakota · 2005

F2 tornado, Havana, North Dakota, June 29, 2005

This F2 tornado ran 8.0 miles across Sargent County on June 29, 2005, touching down at 3:25 PM CDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 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. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 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.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
June 29, 2005
Touchdown
3:25 PM CDT (20:25 UTC)
Path length
8.0 miles (12.9 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Sargent County
Touchdown point
45.950, -97.620
Lift-off point
46.030, -97.500
Record number
1009

What the Weather Service recorded

Numerous trees were blown down or uprooted along the damage path. A roof was torn off a pole barn in Havana. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.

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

The warnings

14 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:11 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:08 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
10:06 UTC10:59 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGF
11:44 UTC20:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningFGF
20:11 UTC21:08 UTCTornado WarningFGF

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 forecast that day

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 19:57 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 air that afternoon

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.

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 12:00Z

8.4 hours before the tornado, 138 km from the path. June 29, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 2005-06-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 432 joules per kilogram, CIN -43, lifted condensation level 521 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 2005-06-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 165 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 42 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
432 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-43 J/kg
Surface CAPE
185 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
521 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
165 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
222 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
3.9
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 00:00Z

3.6 hours after it, 138 km from the path. June 30, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 2005-06-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 468 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 791 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 2005-06-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -108 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
468 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
917 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
791 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-108 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
16 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Sisseton (8D3), 57 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:56 UTC7669140° 17 kt221001
19:56 UTC7871150° 18 kt23999.7
20:56 UTC6966280° 9 kt999.7
21:56 UTC7466260° 9 kt999.3

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

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:25 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
20:20 UTCHAIL 0.75HavanaSargent, NDWIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH NEAR HAVANA.
20:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGHavanaSargent, NDTREES BLOWN DOWN, ROOF BLOWN OFF
21:45 UTCFLASH FLOODHavanaSargent, ND2.44 INCHES RAIN IN ONE HOUR...MAJOR STREET FLOODING

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 29, 2005

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 2912:05 PM EDTF0Berkshire, MA0.150
June 295:20 PM EDTF0Newaygo, MI0.125
June 294:40 PM CDTF0Richland, ND2.050
June 295:05 PM CDTF1Clay, MN1.0100
June 295:09 PM CDTF1Becker, MN3.0100
June 295:10 PM CDTF2Otter Tail, MN1.5200
June 295:51 PM CDTF0Lyon, MN3.0100
June 296:18 PM CDTF0Cottonwood, MN9.0200
June 296:40 PM CDTF0Wadena, MN0.225
June 297:51 PM CDTF0Watonwan, MN0.550
June 298:22 PM CDTF0Blue Earth, MN0.120
June 299:00 PM CDTF0Nicollet, MN0.120
June 2911:15 PM CDTF1Mitchell, KS1.060$100,000
June 2911:51 PM CDTF0Linn, IA0.720

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.