EF2 tornado, Knox to Harlow, North Dakota, June 9, 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

June 9, 2017

Touchdown

7:08 PM CDT (00:08 UTC)

Lifted

7:20 PM CDT (00:20 UTC)

On the ground

12 minutes

Path length

8.0 miles (12.9 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

Crop damage

$10,000

County

Benson County

Touchdown point

48.260, -99.740

Lift-off point

48.181, -99.560

Record number

1706091808-01

During the day of June 9th, temperatures over eastern North Dakota and the northwest quarter of Minnesota topped out in the upper 70s along the Canadian border to lower 90s along the North Dakota/South Dakota border. Mid level temperatures were very warm over the central Dakotas, helping to suppress convective development until early evening. By that point, thunderstorms broke out over southern Manitoba down through central North Dakota, mainly along a cold front. These storms tracked east-southeast, mainly covering the Devils Lake region, down through the central Red River Valley, and into the Mahnomen to Hubbard county corridor. A mix of tornadoes, hail, and strong winds were reported.

This tornado and corresponding rear flank downdraft wind produced widespread dust, which greatly reduced the visibility. Numerous ash, poplar, cottonwood, and evergreen trees were snapped or uprooted in shelterbelts and groves along its path. Peak winds of 119 mph were measured by a mobile system.

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

2 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:06 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 22:00 UTC and running to 02:28 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 20:47 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 Minot AFB radar (KMBX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:08 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

9 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.