EF1 tornado, Kellogg to Grafton, North Dakota, May 24, 2010

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, 2010

Touchdown

2:30 PM CDT (19:30 UTC)

Lifted

2:35 PM CDT (19:35 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

3.0 miles (4.8 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Walsh County

Touchdown point

48.400, -97.440

Lift-off point

48.420, -97.378

Record number

1005241330-01

After the first round of elevated convection from the early morning hours of the 24th drifted off to the northeast, a surface warm front was left along the North Dakota and South Dakota border by mid morning. By mid afternoon of the 24th, the warm front had pushed north to a Jamestown (ND) to Bemidji (MN) line. Behind this front, afternoon temperatures had increased to around 90 degrees with dew points in the mid to upper 60s. High precipitable water values remained over eastern North Dakota and the northwest quarter of Minnesota, keeping the heavy rain threat in place throughout the day.

A metal street light pole was snapped off and several trees were blown down near the courthouse area. The tornado was viewed approaching town by airport employees located two miles east-southeast of Grafton. Peak winds were estimated at 95 mph.

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:20 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:05 UTC and running to 02:32 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 16:10 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), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:31 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 2010 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

21 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.