EF2 tornado, New Leipzig to Elgin Muni Arpt, North Dakota, June 12, 2011

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 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 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. 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

EF2

Date

June 12, 2011

Touchdown

8:15 PM MDT (02:15 UTC)

Lifted

8:22 PM MDT (02:22 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

6.0 miles (9.7 km)

Path width

800 yards (732 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

Crop damage

$50,000

County

Grant County

Touchdown point

46.283, -101.916

Lift-off point

46.347, -101.831

Record number

1106122015-01

A strong short wave trough ejecting into the Northern Plains, coupled with increasing large scale ascent ahead of an upper level jet streak, brought widespread severe weather to much of southwest and south central North Dakota during the evening hours of June 12th. Favorable low level vertical wind shear increased the threat for supercellular storms and isolated tornados. Tornado Watch number 468 was initially issued during the mid afternoon for far southwest North Dakota, followed by Tornado Watch number 469 issued in the early evening for all of west and central North Dakota.||Numerous severe thunderstorm warnings, several tornado warnings, and several flood and flash flood warnings were issued during this event. Numerous reports of large hail, several reports of severe thunderstorm wind gusts, several reports of flash flooding, and four confirmed tornadoes, including one EF2 tornado, occurred during this event.

A National Weather Service storm survey confirmed that an EF2 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita Scale touched down eight miles south-southwest of Elgin, then moved northeast before lifting 3 miles south-southeast of Elgin. No fewer than four farmsteads were damaged along the path of the tornado. The worst damage occurred six miles south-southwest of Elgin, where the tornado was nearly one half of a mile wide, damaging every building on a farmstead and completely destroying the smaller buildings. Damage also occurred to trees, vehicles, and power poles. The damage surveyed corresponded to EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. From that it was determined that wind speeds were on the order of around 120 miles per hour.||Farther north-northeast, three other farmsteads sustained tornado damage. Damage on the first two farmsteads north-northeast of the worst damage was consistent with an EF1 tornado. The farthest north farmstead had damage consistent with an EF0 tornado. ||There were no injuries or fatalities with this tornado.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:28 UTC and running to 05:51 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 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.

NWS Bismarck, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jun 12, 5:50 PM MDT, 2 hours 25 minutes earlier.

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
650 PM CDT SUN JUN 12 2011

.UPDATE...UPDATE FOR NEW TORNADO WATCH.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
CONVECTION CONTINUES TO DEVELOP AND WITH GOOD LOW LEVEL SOUTHEAST
FLOW AND DEW POINTS IN THE 60S KEEP STRONG CONVECTION TO CONTINUE
WEST AND CONTINUE TO DEVELOP CENTRAL PORTIONS.

&&

.AVIATION...
NEW TAF INCORPORATE CONVECTION IN MOST TAF SITES.

&&

.BIS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON FOR NDZ001>004-
009>012-017>022-031>035-040>044.

&&

SHORT TERM...HW
LONG TERM....HW
AVIATION...HW

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
320 PM CDT SUN JUN 12 2011

NDZ001>005-009>013-017>023-025-031>037-040>048-050-051-132030-
DIVIDE-BURKE-RENVILLE-BOTTINEAU-ROLETTE-WILLIAMS-MOUNTRAIL-WARD-
MCHENRY-PIERCE-MCKENZIE-DUNN-MERCER-OLIVER-MCLEAN-SHERIDAN-WELLS-
FOSTER-GOLDEN VALLEY-BILLINGS-STARK-MORTON-BURLEIGH-KIDDER-
STUTSMAN-SLOPE-HETTINGER-GRANT-BOWMAN-ADAMS-SIOUX-EMMONS-LOGAN-
LA MOURE-MCINTOSH-DICKEY-
320 PM CDT SUN JUN 12 2011 /220 PM MDT SUN JUN 12 2011/

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL
NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA...SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH
DAKOTA...SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT. SOME STORMS
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING COULD BE SEVERE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THIS WEEK.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED.

In the hours before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
838 PM CDT SUN JUN 12 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0825 PM     HAIL             NEW ENGLAND             46.54N 102.87W
06/12/2011  M1.00 INCH       HETTINGER          ND   CO-OP OBSERVER

            STILL GETTING PEA SIZE HAIL.

&&

SWICHE

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
848 PM CDT SUN JUN 12 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0830 PM     HAIL             NEW SALEM               46.85N 101.41W
06/12/2011  M1.00 INCH       MORTON             ND   CO-OP OBSERVER

            PEA TO QUARTER SIZE HAIL... HEAVY RAIN

&&

LHUBER

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
849 PM CDT SUN JUN 12 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0845 PM     TORNADO          10 NE NEW SALEM         46.95N 101.26W
06/12/2011                   MORTON             ND   PUBLIC

            STORM CHASER REPORTED TORNADO ON THE GROUND MOVING
            NORTHEAST.

&&

SWICHE

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
858 PM CDT SUN JUN 12 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0849 PM     HEAVY RAIN       NEW ENGLAND             46.54N 102.87W
06/12/2011  M1.00 INCH       HETTINGER          ND   CO-OP OBSERVER

            1.0 INCH OF RAIN IN 55 MINS...

&&

LHUBER

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
906 PM CDT SUN JUN 12 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0900 PM     TORNADO          1 NW SWEET BRIAR LAKE   46.87N 101.27W
06/12/2011                   MORTON             ND   TRAINED SPOTTER

            SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND FOR 10 TO 15
            SECONDS.

&&

NHEINERT

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
907 PM CDT SUN JUN 12 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0905 PM     FLASH FLOOD      5 N GLEN ULLIN          46.89N 101.83W
06/12/2011                   MORTON             ND   EMERGENCY MNGR

            1 FOOT OF WATER OVER WEST AND EAST BOUND LANES OF
            INTERSTATE 94 MILE MARKER 106... RELATED 3 CAR ACCIDENT
            WITH HEAVY RAIN AND HAIL.

&&

LHUBER

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.

Hettinger (HEI), 69 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:16 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 2011 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

11 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.