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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>Local storm report, May 30, 4:32 PM CDT, 1 hour 12 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>Local storm report, May 30, 4:58 PM CDT, 46 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>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
CONNELLYLocal 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
TROGDONLocal 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
TROGDONThe 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.
- 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
Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 00:00Z
1.3 hours after it, 78 km from the path. May 31, 2014.
- 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
The surface observations
Pierre (PIR), 82 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (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.
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.