EF2 tornado, Mission to Okreek, South Dakota, May 22, 2016

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

May 22, 2016

Touchdown

7:25 PM CDT (00:25 UTC)

Lifted

7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

4.6 miles (7.5 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

County

Todd County

Touchdown point

43.030, -100.427

Lift-off point

43.088, -100.382

Record number

1605221825-01

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS UNR, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 118 mph.

• Power poles snapped off at the ground. Wires strung across the intersection.
• Several large trees heavily damaged. Some trees snapped and others were uprooted.

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

A cluster of severe thunderstorms tracked slowly northeastward from Nebraska across south central South Dakota during the late afternoon and evening. Large hail and strong wind gusts were reported across Todd and southern Tripp Counties. Two tornadoes also developed, one across southeastern Todd County and another over southwestern Tripp County. Very heavy rain also caused flooding in Colome and southeastern Tripp County.

A tornado developed over southeastern Todd County and moved northeastward for about ten minutes. The tornado did not damage any structures as it tracked across fields for almost five miles. However, it did snap eight to ten power poles at the ground at the intersection of Littleburg Road and Hidden Timber Road. Several large trees in a shelter belt were snapped off and uprooted.

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

In the hours before

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Valentine (VTN), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 123 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:22 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in South DakotaEvery tornado in South Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in South Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

25 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.