EF0 tornado, Tokio to Crary, North Dakota, August 10, 2007

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

August 10, 2007

Touchdown

2:18 PM CDT (19:18 UTC)

Lifted

2:21 PM CDT (19:21 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Ramsey and Benson counties

Touchdown point

47.973, -98.767

Lift-off point

47.993, -98.745

Record number

0708101318-01

A line of thunderstorms over central North Dakota flared up late in the morning of the 10th, and then tracked into northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota through the day. These storms initially formed near a stationary front, which stretched from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to near Bismarck, ND. By noon CST, the front had progressed to a Langdon (ND) to Devils Lake (ND) line. The airmass ahead of the front was hot and humid (at noon CST), with Jamestown (ND) at 86F and Crookston (MN) at 88F. During the early afternoon, an outflow boundary formed over western Grand Forks County and tracked to the east, eventually reaching a Roseau (MN) to Crookston (MN) to Jamestown (ND) line by late afternoon. These storms also had rich moisture up through 850mb and support from the low level jet.

This tornado touched down on Black Tiger Bay (in Benson County), about 9 miles southwest of Crary, and tracked about one mile northeast. At this point, it crossed into the open water of Devils Lake, which is in Ramsey County. The tornado continued about another half mile into Ramsey County, giving the tornado a total path length of 1.5 miles over water.

This tornado originated 4 miles north-northeast of Tokio in Benson County at 1318 CST. The tornado crossed from Black Tiger Bay in Benson County and continued into the open waters of Devils Lake in Ramsey County (to about 7.5 miles southwest of Crary by 1321 CST). The tornado was viewed by campers at the south end of Black Tiger Bay. Total path length was about 1.5 miles, with about 0.5 miles of the tornado occurring in Ramsey County.

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

8 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:10 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:54 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:28 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 Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:19 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 2007 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota 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.