EF2 tornado, Hillsboro Arpt to Syre, North Dakota, July 11, 2017

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

July 11, 2017

Touchdown

7:48 PM CDT (00:48 UTC)

Lifted

8:11 PM CDT (01:11 UTC)

On the ground

23 minutes

Path length

11.6 miles (18.7 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$800,000

Crop damage

$650,000

Counties

Traill and Norman counties

Touchdown point

47.380, -96.980

Lift-off point

47.328, -96.751

Record number

1707111848-01

4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FGF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 135 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

After morning showers moved through eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota, clouds decreased and allowed for some decent afternoon warming. Highs warmed into the low 90s over all of east central and southeast North Dakota, along with dew point values in the lower 70s. Thunderstorms formed a little later than initially thought, partly due to the morning clouds. The storms initially formed over northeast North Dakota during the late afternoon, but expanded east and southeast throughout the evening. These storms produced large hail, strong winds, and multiple tornadoes. One of the tornadoes had a particularly long track, taking it from just north of the Mayville radar site to just northeast of Hillsboro.

After morning showers moved through eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota, clouds decreased and allowed for some decent afternoon warming. Highs warmed into the low 90s over all of east central and southeast North Dakota, along with dew point values in the lower 70s. Thunderstorms formed a little later than initially thought, partly due to the morning clouds. The storms initially formed over northeast North Dakota during the late afternoon, but expanded east and southeast throughout the evening. These storms produced large hail, strong winds, and multiple tornadoes. One of the tornadoes had a particularly long track, taking it from just north of the Mayville radar site to just northeast of Hillsboro.

This tornado developed from the main mesocyclone as its predecessor roped out. It crossed the Red River and continued for another 5 miles in Minnesota, before ending around four miles east-southeast of Halstad at 711 pm CST. This tornado snapped H-pole power poles, crushed steel grain bins, snapped numerous oak and ash trees, and toppled a barn along its path. Peak winds were estimated at 130 mph.

This tornado originated 4 miles east-northeast of Hillsboro, in Traill County, North Dakota, at 648 pm CST. It crossed the Red River about one mile west of Halstad. The tornado snapped H-pole power poles, crushed steel grain bins, snapped numerous oak and ash trees, and toppled a barn along its path. Peak winds were estimated at 130 mph.

This tornado collapsed at least one shed, snapped numerous trees, and tossed large round hay bales across a sugar beet field. It also snapped at least a half dozen wooden power poles. Peak winds were estimated at 125 mph. The tornado continued into Clay County, where it ended two miles north of Ulen, at 806 pm CST.

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

29 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:19 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:48 UTC and running to 02:42 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:35 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), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:48 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 2017 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

12 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.