EF2 tornado, St Benedict to Harwood, North Dakota, May 30, 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

May 30, 2011

Touchdown

9:03 PM CDT (02:03 UTC)

Lifted

9:13 PM CDT (02:13 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

7.4 miles (12.0 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$750,000

County

Cass County

Touchdown point

46.875, -96.873

Lift-off point

46.980, -96.838

Record number

1105302003-01

An impressive set up for severe weather occurred on the evening of the 30th. A surface low set up near Fargo with a warm front extending out to its east. Meanwhile, a cold front extended to the south, down into central Nebraska. In the warm sector, temperatures climbed into the low to mid 80s with dew points in the middle 60s. As convection blossomed in the evening, thunderstorms erupted all along the cold front, from North Dakota all the way down into Nebraska.

This tornado tracked for about two miles to the north-northeast and was likely enshrouded in downburst winds and heavy rains. The tornado flipped a parked semi trailer and tore out two large 40,000 bushel steel grain bins at one farmstead and spread debris downwind for a mile. Several trees were toppled onto rooftops in the community of St. Benedict. Peak winds were estimated at 100 mph.

This tornado tracked northward for about four miles and lifted near the Woodhaven Park in southwest Fargo. The tornado was likely enshrouded in downburst winds and heavy rain as it knocked down several wooden power poles and two metal truss power towers along its path. Sections of roofing were torn off of two apartment buildings. Many residences had tree, vehicle and roof damage. Peak wind were estimated at 135 mph.

This tornado tracked northward and brushed the west edge of the industrial park of northwest Fargo and the east edge of Reiles Acres before lifting east of Harwood. The tornado was likely enshrouded in downburst winds and heavy rains for part of this track. Two guyed radio towers collapsed, several empty semi-trailers and travel trailers were flipped and thrown, steel wall and roofing panels were torn from industrial buildings, and numerous power poles and trees were snapped. peak winds were estimated at 135 mph.

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

16 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:47 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:46 UTC and running to 03:44 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:45 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), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:01 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

15 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.