Tornadoes · United States · South Dakota · 2017

EF0 tornado, Eden, South Dakota, June 13, 2017

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Marshall County on June 13, 2017, touching down at 7:55 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
June 13, 2017
Touchdown
7:55 PM CDT (00:55 UTC)
Lifted
7:56 PM CDT (00:56 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Marshall County
Touchdown point
45.595, -97.374
Lift-off point
45.596, -97.372
Record number
1706131855-01

The damage survey

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ABR, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

  • Damage lofted 0.1 miles to the northeast

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

What the Weather Service recorded

A large upper level low pressure trough lifting northeast over the region along with a surface cold front interacting with a warm and very humid air mass brought severe thunderstorms to the region. During the mid afternoon hours, storms rapidly developed over central and eastern South Dakota, between Pierre and Aberdeen. These storms quickly strengthened and produced large hail, damaging winds, and eventually tornadoes. The storms evolved into mainly a wind and tornado event around 7 pm CDT. Widespread wind damage occurred across northeast South Dakota as the storms formed a line and moved northeast. Many tornadoes occurred across the region, causing EF-0 and EF-1 damage.

A brief tornado touched down and caused the collapse of the entire roof of a barn. Debris was lofted 500 feet to the northeast. Minor roof damage also occurred to a second outbuilding along with minor tree damage and damage to the siding of a house.

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

The warnings

10 minutes of warning. NWS ABR issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:45 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:19 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:15 UTC and running to 01:39 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
08:36 UTC09:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABR
10:04 UTC10:28 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABR
20:15 UTC01:39 UTCTornado WatchABR
23:34 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WarningABR
23:57 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningABR
00:10 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABR
00:22 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABR
00:24 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABR
00:38 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABR
00:45 UTC01:19 UTCTornado WarningABR
01:12 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABR

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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:57 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.

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 00:00Z

0.9 hours before the tornado, 112 km from the path. June 14, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 2017-06-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 118 joules per kilogram, CIN -325, lifted condensation level 1575 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2017-06-14The 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 279 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 62 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
118 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-325 J/kg
Surface CAPE
111 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1575 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
279 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
479 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
10.8
0-3 km lapse rate
4.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 12:00Z

11.1 hours after it, 112 km from the path. June 14, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 2017-06-14Temperature 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 -73515, lifted condensation level 1996 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2017-06-14The 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 -5 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
-73515 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1996 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-5 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
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:56 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
23:05 UTCTORNADO1 S GrotonBrown, SD
23:39 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD3 W PierpontDay, SD
00:18 UTCTSTM WND DMGWallaceCodington, SDLARGE TREES UPROOTED. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME.
00:25 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDFlorenceCodington, SDMOVING UP AND DOWN.
00:25 UTCTSTM WND GST 60FlorenceCodington, SD60 MPH.
00:27 UTCTSTM WND DMGClaremontBrown, SDLARGE TREE LIMB DOWN. TIME BASED ON RADAR.
00:29 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ne ButlerDay, SDNUMEROUS TREES BLOWN DOWN AND STORAGE SHED COMPLETELY DESTROYED. ESTIMATED WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 90 MPH.
00:29 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Wsw WebsterDay, SDNUMEROUS TREES BLOWN DOWN AND STORAGE SHED COMPLETELY DESTROYED. ESTIMATED WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 90 MPH.
00:31 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 E BristolDay, SDSEVERAL POWER POLES DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
00:31 UTCTSTM WND GST 694 W WebsterDay, SDRADAR ESTIMATED TIME.
00:32 UTCTSTM WND DMGWebsterDay, SDPOWERLINES DOWN IN WEBSTER. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
00:33 UTCTSTM WND GST 657 Sw WaubayDay, SDAT LEAST 65 MPH ESTIMATED.
00:33 UTCTSTM WND GST 658 Sw WaubayDay, SDAT LEAST 65 MPH ESTIMATED.
00:34 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Nnw WebsterDay, SDTHREE POWER POLES DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
00:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Sw WaubayDay, SDDAIRY BARN PARTIALLY DESTROYED. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
00:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 603 S WebsterDay, SD
00:37 UTCTSTM WND DMGWaubayDay, SDA LOT OF DAMAGE THROUGHOUT TOWN...INCLUDING TREES UPROOTED AND ON HOUSES. POWER OUTAGES ACROSS DAY COUNTY. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
00:50 UTCTSTM WND GST 864 W WaubayDay, SD
00:55 UTCTORNADO3 Ese EdenMarshall, SDBARN ROOF COMPLETELY COLLAPSED. DEBRIS LOFTED ONE TENTH OF A MILE.
00:56 UTCTSTM WND GST 552 Se MarvinGrant, SD
01:05 UTCTSTM WND GST 764 Sw HillheadMarshall, SDTIME ESTIMATED.
01:10 UTCTSTM WND GST 552 Ene SissetonRoberts, SDASOS STATION 8D3, SISSETON MUNI AP.
01:10 UTCTSTM WND GST 576 Ssw PeeverRoberts, SD
01:14 UTCTSTM WND GST 60Claire CityRoberts, SD
01:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 N New EffingtonRoberts, SDTREES UPROOTED, LARGE BRANCHES BROKEN. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME.
01:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 N New EffingtonRoberts, SDUPROOTED TREE. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME.
01:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG9 S RosholtRoberts, SDTWO CABINS DESTROYED, ONE BY WIND AND THE OTHER BY A LARGE FELLED TREE. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME. ESTIMATED LOCATION.
01:20 UTCTSTM WND GST 701 N New EffingtonRoberts, SD
01:20 UTCTORNADO2 Wsw New EffingtonRoberts, SDSIGNIFICANT TREE DAMAGE FROM A BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN.
01:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nne New EffingtonRoberts, SDLARGE BRANCHES BROKEN.
01:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Nne New EffingtonRoberts, SDLOSS OF ROOF BARN. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME.
01:25 UTCTORNADO2 N New EffingtonRoberts, SDTREE DAMAGE FROM A BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME.
01:28 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Nnw VictorRoberts, SD12-16 TREES SNAPPED. POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME.
01:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nw VictorRoberts, SDUPROOTED TREES. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME.
01:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Nnw VictorRoberts, SDDENTED GRAIN BINS, UPROOTED TREES. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in South DakotaEvery tornado in South Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in South Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 13, 2017

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 134:16 PM CDTEF0Hand, SD0.110
June 134:25 PM CDTEF1Hand, SD0.3175
June 134:32 PM CDTEF0Hand, SD0.110
June 136:05 PM CDTEF0Brown, SD0.110
June 136:45 PM CDTEF0Stevens, MN1.535
June 136:56 PM CDTEF1Stevens, MN3.0300
June 137:28 PM CDTEF0Grant, MN0.575
June 137:29 PM CDTEF1Day, SD0.240
June 138:20 PM CDTEF1Roberts, SD0.4100
June 138:25 PM CDTEF0Roberts, SD0.190
June 138:27 PM CDTEF1Big Stone, MN0.3170
June 138:30 PM CDTEF1Traverse, MN0.150

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.