EF2 tornado, Polo, South Dakota, August 30, 2020

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

August 30, 2020

Touchdown

6:03 PM CDT (23:03 UTC)

Lifted

6:13 PM CDT (23:13 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

1.6 miles (2.6 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

0

County

Hand County

Touchdown point

44.709, -98.987

Lift-off point

44.715, -98.990

Record number

2008301703-01

A strong cold front pushing across central and northeast South Dakota brought several severe storms to the region. Large hail up to 2 inches in diameter occurred along with a fatal tornado in northern Hand county.

The tornado initially touched down in the pasture land east of South Dakota Highway 45, roughly 0.8 miles south of 184th Street. It continued to track north for roughly 0.6 miles, damaging a tree grove and fence line. The track then turned west northwest and crossed South Dakota Highway 45, roughly 0.2 miles south of 184th street. A southbound RV pulling an enclosed trailer was struck. The trailer detached from the RV and the RV was lofted and rolled roughly 200 yards into a corn field on the west side of of South Dakota Highway 45. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The tornado track continued west northwest through the corn field for an estimated 0.4 miles. The tornado was at its peak width and intensity at this point. Corn was completely flattened in some areas with a distinct convergent pattern. As the tornado weakened and roped out the path took a southwest turn and persisted for roughly another 0.6 miles before coming to an end in the corn field.

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 22:02 UTC and running to 01:20 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 Slight Risk. 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 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 Aberdeen radar (KABR), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:01 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 2020 tornado in South DakotaEvery tornado in South Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in South Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

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.