Tornadoes · United States · South Dakota · 2014

EF0 tornado, Highmore Arpt, South Dakota, May 30, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 1.8 miles across Hyde County on May 30, 2014, touching down at 5:44 PM CDT and reaching 50 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 30, 2014
Touchdown
5:44 PM CDT (22:44 UTC)
Lifted
5:58 PM CDT (22:58 UTC)
On the ground
14 minutes
Path length
1.8 miles (2.8 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Hyde County
Touchdown point
44.651, -99.312
Lift-off point
44.667, -99.340
Record number
1405301644-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered thunderstorms brought very heavy rain, flash flooding, and large hail to parts of central South Dakota. The hail was up to golf ball size with a weak tornado in Hand and Hyde Counties.

A tornado traveling northwest out of Hand county entered eastern Hyde county around 544 pm CDT. The tornado remained in open country before dissipating just before 6 pm CDT.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Aberdeen, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 30, 3:00 PM CDT, 2 hours 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 30, 3:00 PM CDT, 2 hours 44 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
300 PM CDT FRI MAY 30 2014

.SHORT TERM...TONIGHT AND SATURDAY
FORECAST CHALLENGES SURROUND POTENTIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SLOW
MOVING...HEAVY RAIN-PRODUCING THUNDERSTORMS AND ANY POTENTIAL
FLASH FLOODING THEY MAY INCUR.

CURRENTLY...UNDER A PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY SKY...DAYTIME HEATING
AND PLENTY OF LOW TO MID LEVEL MOISTURE IN THE ATMOSPHERE HAS
CREATED MIXED-LAYER CAPE VALUES BETWEEN 1000-2000J/KG. 0-6KM SHEAR
REMAINS VERY LOW...GENERALLY LESS THAN 15 TO 20 KNOTS. ALREADY
SEEING WIDELY SCATTERED COVERAGE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
DEVELOPING ALONG AND WEST OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY EARLY THIS
AFTERNOON. TEMPERATURES ALONG AND EAST OF THE NEARLY STALLED OUT
COLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY ARE WARMING WELL INTO THE 80S AND IN SOME
SPOTS THE LOW TO MID 90S. WEST OF THE BOUNDARY TEMPERATURES ARE
RUNNING MORE IN THE UPPER 60S TO UPPER 70S.

TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...STORM MOTION THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH
TOMORROW IS VERY SLOW...ON THE ORDER OF 5 TO 15 MPH AND GENERALLY
DRIFTING ENEWD. BETWEEN THAT SLOW STORM MOVEMENT AND THE HIGHLY
EFFICIENT ABILITY TO PRODUCE HEAVY RAIN/INTENSE RAINFALL
RATES...THERE IS A GENUINE CONCERN THAT THESE STORMS WILL BE
CAPABLE OF PRODUCING SEVERAL ISOLATED FLASH-FLOODING SITUATIONS
ACROSS THE CWA OVER THE NEXT 12 TO 18 HOURS OR SO. ONCE THE UPPER
SUPPORT OF A RIGHT ENTRANCE REGION /UPPER LEVEL JET STREAK/ ALOFT
SHOWS UP LATER TONIGHT WHEN A MID-LEVEL SHORT-WAVE WORKS IN FROM
THE SOUTHWEST AND A HALF-WAY DECENT LOW-LEVEL JET DEVELOPS /25 TO
35 KNOTS/...SUSPECT THAT THERE WILL BE A SECOND BATCH OF MODERATE
TO HEAVY RAIN PRODUCING STORMS DEVELOPING ACROSS THE SWRN ZONES UP
TOWARD THE JAMES RIVER VALLEY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA WHICH
WOULD SPILL OVER INTO THE SATURDAY MORNING FORECAST PERIOD. ONCE
ANY LOW CLOUDS AND/OR CONVECTIVE DEBRIS CLOUDINESS IS ELIMINATED
WITH DAYTIME HEATING...ANOTHER AIRMASS CONSISTING OF WEAK
SHEAR/MODERATE INSTABILITY SHOULD BE DEVELOPING SATURDAY AFTERNOON
ALONG AND EAST OF THE SYNOPTIC-SCALE FRONTAL BOUNDARY THAT IS
FORECAST TO BE DISPLACED TO MAINLY THE JAMES RIVER VALLEY OF
NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA...POSSIBLY TAILING BACK TOWARD THE MILLER
AREA AND ON DOWN TOWARD THE CHAMBERLAIN/OACOMA REGION. HEAVY RAIN
MENTION CONTINUES IN THE FORECAST.

.LONG TERM...SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY
THERE MAY BE A BRIEF BREAK IN THE ACTION LATE SATURDAY NIGHT INTO
SUNDAY BEFORE THE NEXT ROUND OF CONVECTION IS EXPECTED SUNDAY
AFTERNOON. INITIALLY THE REGION IS UNDER SOUTHWEST FLOW
ALOFT...BUT UPPER LEVEL FORCING INCREASES AS THE MAIN UPPER
SHORTWAVE BECOMES NEGATIVELY TILTED AND LIFTS INTO THE NORTHERN
PLAINS SUNDAY. MODELS ARE HINTING AT AN EARLY START TO
PRECIPITATION DEVELOPMENT WHICH COULD LIMIT SURFACE BASED
INSTABILITY...AND COULD BE AN INHIBITING FACTOR TO STORM
DEVELOPMENT IN THE AFTERNOON. BUT OTHERWISE...PLENTY OF MOISTURE
WILL COMBINE WITH AN INVERTED SURFACE TROUGH AND 0-6 KM SHEAR
VALUES INCREASING TO 40 TO 50 KTS. THIS SETUP WILL BE CONDUCIVE
FOR STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

THERE SHOULD BE A BREAK AS HIGH PRESSURE MOVES IN FOR MONDAY AND
TUESDAY. BUT ANOTHER POTENT SHORTWAVE WILL MOVE INTO THE NORTHERN
PLAINS BY MID WEEK. STILL SOME TIMING DIFFERENCES WITH THE TRACK
AND INTENSITY OF THIS FEATURE...SO DETAILS ARE NOT CLEAR...BUT
ENOUGH AGREEMENT TO KEEP CHANCE POPS GOING IN THE LAST FEW DAYS OF
THE EXTENDED.

AS FOR TEMPERATURES...COOLER AIR WILL ADVECT INTO THE REGION
BEHIND THE EXITING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MONDAY AND TUESDAY...AND
THEN TEMPS REMAIN IN A FAIRLY NEUTRAL ADVECTION PATTERN THEREAFTER.
HIGHS THROUGH THE LONG TERM TIME FRAME ARE MAINLY IN THE 70S.

&&

.AVIATION...
18Z TAFS FOR THE KABR...KATY...KPIR AND KMBG TERMINALS

A COLD FRONT ACROSS THE REGION WILL MOVE VERY LITTLE THIS
AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
WILL DEVELOP WITH THIS FRONT...THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. A
FEW OF THE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE. BUT MAINLY THE CONCERN
SURROUNDS RAPID DIMINISHMENT FROM VFR VISBY TO IFR VISBY IN VERY
HEAVY RAINFALL. SHOWERS AND VICINITY THUNDER HAS BEEN ADJUSTED IN
THE TAFS TO ACCOUNT FOR THE LATEST MODEL OUTPUT AND CURRENT
RADAR/SATELLITE TRENDS.

&&

.ABR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
SD...NONE.
MN...NONE.
&&

SHORT TERM...DORN
LONG TERM...SERR
AVIATION...DORN

WEATHER.GOV/ABERDEEN
Hazardous weather outlook, May 30, 5:20 AM CDT, 12 hours 24 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
520 AM CDT FRI MAY 30 2014

MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-311030-
TRAVERSE-BIG STONE-CORSON-CAMPBELL-MCPHERSON-BROWN-MARSHALL-
ROBERTS-WALWORTH-EDMUNDS-DAY-DEWEY-POTTER-FAULK-SPINK-CLARK-
CODINGTON-GRANT-HAMLIN-DEUEL-STANLEY-SULLY-HUGHES-HYDE-HAND-JONES-
LYMAN-BUFFALO-
520 AM CDT FRI MAY 30 2014 /420 AM MDT FRI MAY 30 2014/

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL
MINNESOTA...CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA AND
NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY OVER THE AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT. SOME
STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS. IT ALSO
APPEARS THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR HEAVY RAIN.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

UNSETTLED WEATHER WILL CONTINUE OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS...WITH
SEVERAL CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS. THE SEVERE STORM THREAT ON
SATURDAY WILL GENERALLY BE OVER WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA...WHILE THE
THREAT ON SUNDAY WILL BE OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE STATE.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT.

TMT

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 30, 4:23 PM CDT, 1 hour 21 minutes before
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Local storm report, May 30, 4:32 PM CDT, 1 hour 12 minutes before
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Local storm report, May 30, 4:58 PM CDT, 46 minutes before
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Local storm report, May 30, 5:13 PM CDT, 31 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
513 PM CDT FRI MAY 30 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0352 PM     HAIL             4 SSE PEMBROOK COLONY   45.32N  98.96W
05/30/2014  E1.00 INCH       EDMUNDS            SD   PUBLIC

            HAIL BETWEEN QUARTER SIZE AND HALF DOLLAR SIZE AND 1.6
            INCHES OF RAIN

&&

EVENT NUMBER ABR1400384

CONNELLY
Local storm report, May 30, 5:33 PM CDT, 11 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
533 PM CDT FRI MAY 30 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0521 PM     HEAVY RAIN       6 ESE POLO              44.76N  98.98W
05/30/2014  M3.75 INCH       HAND               SD   PUBLIC

            OFF OF SOCIAL MEDIA FEED...3.75 INCHES OF RAIN AT THE
            INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAYS 45 AND 26 AND STILL RAINING

&&

EVENT NUMBER ABR1400385

TROGDON
Local storm report, May 30, 5:43 PM CDT, 1 minute before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
543 PM CDT FRI MAY 30 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0525 PM     FLASH FLOOD      6 E POLO                44.78N  98.99W
05/30/2014                   HAND               SD   PUBLIC

            YARD UNDER WATER...FIELDS UNDER WATER...DITCHES
            FULL...STILL RAINING

&&

EVENT NUMBER ABR1400386

TROGDON

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.

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 12:00Z

10.7 hours before the tornado, 78 km from the path. May 30, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 2014-05-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 348 joules per kilogram, CIN -163, lifted condensation level 1265 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 2014-05-30The 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 119 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 24 knots.1939Sfc1 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
348 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-163 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1265 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
119 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
61 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 00:00Z

1.3 hours after it, 78 km from the path. May 31, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 2014-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 513 joules per kilogram, CIN -95, lifted condensation level 1748 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 2014-05-31The 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 38 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 13 knots.1939Sfc1 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
513 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-95 J/kg
Surface CAPE
520 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1748 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Pierre (PIR), 82 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:46 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in South DakotaEvery tornado in South Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in South Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 30, 2014

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 304:38 PM EDTEF0Hendry, FL0.310
May 304:45 PM EDTEF0Hillsborough, FL0.550$50,000
May 305:30 PM CDTEF0Hand, SD3.650

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.