Tornadoes · United States · North Dakota · 2022

EF0 tornado, Eckelson, North Dakota, May 8, 2022

This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Barnes County on May 8, 2022, touching down at 9:04 PM CDT and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    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 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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
May 8, 2022
Touchdown
9:04 PM CDT (02:04 UTC)
Lifted
9:05 PM CDT (02:05 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Barnes County
Touchdown point
46.849, -98.283
Lift-off point
46.851, -98.281
Record number
2205082004-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong upper low, and the associated negatively tilted trough, led to the development of severe thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening of May 8. These storms persisted into the morning of May 9, producing severe wind, hail and tornadoes.

A thin, rope tornado was seen while looking to the north by northwest, from the intersection of 44th st SE and 106th ave SE. Touchdown was brief and lasted less than one minute. Movement was to the northeast. Public photos and videos documented the brief touchdown near Kee Lake, 4 miles south of I-29. Maximum width was 10 yards, with winds up to 65 mph.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:07 UTC14:41 UTCFlood WarningFGF
00:00 UTC18:04 UTCFlood WatchFGF
00:46 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGF
01:25 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGF
01:55 UTC02:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGF
02:32 UTC03:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGF
18:00 UTC03:00 UTCWind AdvisoryFGF

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:59 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 air that afternoon

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.

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), 00:00Z

2.1 hours before the tornado, 184 km from the path. May 9, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Bismarck Municip, ND at 00:00Z on 2022-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -90551, lifted condensation level 1930 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Bismarck Municip, ND at 00:00Z on 2022-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 231 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 78 knots.1939587897117136156Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-90551 J/kg
Surface CAPE
158 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1930 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
78 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
231 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
514 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
7.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), 12:00Z

9.9 hours after it, 184 km from the path. May 9, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 2022-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -60431, lifted condensation level 771 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 2022-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -100 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-60431 J/kg
Surface CAPE
32 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
771 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-100 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-226 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:04 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
00:20 UTCHAIL 11 Sw EldridgeStutsman, NDTRAINED SPOTTER ON INTERSTATE-94 REPORTED A FEW QUARTER SIZE HAIL PIECES.
01:04 UTCTORNADO9 N LitchvilleBarnes, NDTHIN ROPE TORNADO SEEN LOOKING WEST ABOUT 3 MILES, FROM INTERSECTION OF 44TH ST SE AND 106TH AVE SE. TOUCHDOWN WAS BRIEF.
01:10 UTCHAIL 14 Nnw YpsilantiStutsman, NDQUARTER SIZE HAIL. PUBLIC REPORT RELAYED BY BROADCAST MEDIA.
01:30 UTCHAIL 15 S UrbanaBarnes, NDA FEW MINUTES OF DIME TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL AT THE KIERLY WATERFOWL PRODUCTION AREA.
02:04 UTCTORNADO 07 Sse EckelsonBarnes, NDA THIN ROPE TORNADO WAS SEEN LOOKING TO THE NORTH NORTHWEST FROM THE INTERSECTION OF 44TH ST SE AND 106TH AVE SE. TOUCHDOWN WAS BRIEF, LASTING LESS THAN A MINUTE, WITH ONLY SLIGHT MOVEMENT TO THE NORTHEAST. PUBLIC PHOTOS
02:04 UTCTORNADO9 N LitchvilleBarnes, NDCORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 9 N LITCHVILLE. THIN ROPE TORNADO SEEN LOOKING WEST ABOUT 3 MILES, FROM INTERSECTION OF 44TH ST SE AND 106TH AVE SE. TOUCHDOWN WAS BRIEF. CORRECTED TIME.
02:30 UTCHAIL 14 W Valley CityBarnes, ND
02:32 UTCHAIL 14 W Valley CityBarnes, NDDIME TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES, UNTIL 937 PM CDT.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.