EF1 tornado, Armourdale to Egeland, North Dakota, June 14, 2018

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

June 14, 2018

Touchdown

9:18 PM CDT (02:18 UTC)

Lifted

9:24 PM CDT (02:24 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

3.4 miles (5.5 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Towner County

Touchdown point

48.840, -99.470

Lift-off point

48.816, -99.404

Record number

1806142018-01

Somewhat unexpectedly, one very strong thunderstorm tracked across north central North Dakota into the northern Devils Lake region during the late afternoon of June 14th, dropping large hail and heavy rain. Several hours later, more thunderstorms across southern Manitoba moved back into the same area north of Devils Lake. These storms produced several tornadoes, strong winds, and large hail. Strong storms also fired up across southeast North Dakota around midnight, which tracked toward the Fargo-Moorhead area in the early morning hours of the June 15th.

A partially rain wrapped tornado tracked intermittently for about three miles. At least one power pole was cracked and power lines were torn down in central Mountain View Township. Peak winds were estimated at 95 mph.

A partially rain wrapped tornado tracked eastward for about four miles across southern Virginia Township. The tornado picked up and tossed a hopper bottom grain bin about 40 yards to the southwest, blew down cattle fencing at a farmstead, and broke down numerous large tree branches along its path. Peak winds were estimated at 90 mph.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:17 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:32 UTC and running to 07:00 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:52 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.

Rolla (06D), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Minot AFB radar (KMBX), 116 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:20 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 2018 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.