EF1 tornado, Steele, North Dakota, August 28, 2024

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

August 28, 2024

Touchdown

7:52 PM CDT (00:52 UTC)

Lifted

7:55 PM CDT (00:55 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.9 miles (1.4 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$600,000

Crop damage

$25,000

County

Kidder County

Touchdown point

46.852, -99.898

Lift-off point

46.863, -99.891

Record number

2408281852-01

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BIS, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 94 mph.

• Over 40 train cars were blown off the east/west orientated tracks with some to the north and some to the south. Crops around train cars are damaged in twisted directions, with the oats in the field virtually flattened near the train. It is hard to see, but some trees, which were ash in the grove, are damaged.
• Oat field damaged, with non-linear damage pattern. Tornado began at this location.
• Lift point of tornado with no damage north or east of this area.

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

Thunderstorms developed over southwest into south central North Dakota in an environment of very strong instability and elevated deep layer shear. The atmosphere remained capped until early in the evening when rapid thunderstorm development occurred. The initial severe storm produced a tornado near Selfridge in Sioux County, which broke power poles. Based on the damage done this this tornado was rated EF-1. Additional storms developed ahead of a frontal boundary, producing large hail and damaging winds. One storm over southern Morton County south of St. Anthony produced a four-inch diameter hailstone. In the town of St. Anthony, wind driven hail produced extensive damage to structures, with the siding shredded on some homes. Later in the evening, a storm passed over and to the south of Sterling in Burleigh County, producing 100 mph straight line winds which dislodged a large grain bin, broke or severely damaged 15 power poles, and significantly damaged a large sunflower field. The storm then moved towards Steele in Kidder County where it produced a tornado just to the east of town. The tornado crossed the path of a stopped train and knocked about 40 railroad cars off the tracks. An oats field was destroyed and several hardwood trees were snapped. This tornado was rated EF-1. Additional storms then continued through the evening producing hail over south central and parts of north central North Dakota before moving to the east and dissipating. Along with the severe weather, three male teenagers were struck by lighting to the north of Sterling in Burleigh County while returning to their vehicle after goose hunting. All three were injured and required medical attention at a hospital emergency room, but were able to quickly recover from their injuries.

The tornado touched down in an oats field to the east-southeast of Steele, with the plants twisted and downed in multiple directions. Approximately one mile east of |Steele the tornado crossed the path of a stopped train and about 40 empty railroad cars were knocked off the tracks. The tracks ran from west to east, with some cars falling north, and some falling south. In addition, near the derailed cars, a grove of hardwood trees suffered damage, with a few trees uprooted. The tornado then lifted one mile northeast of Steele. Based on the damage done this tornado was rated high-end EF-1, and from that wind speeds were estimated to be around 110 mph.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS BIS issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:28 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:44 UTC and running to 04:00 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:49 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 Bismarck radar (KBIS), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:52 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 2024 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

4 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.