Posted on 05/27/2008 2:41:47 PM PDT by xjcsa
Last updated at 4:30 p.m. Tues. May 27, 2008
Summary
NWS personnel have rated the Parkersburg-New Hartford-Dunkerton tornado as a Low-end EF 5 (correlated to wind speeds up to 205 MPH) on the Enhanced Fujita Scale at the locations of maximum damage. Additional details on path length, width, etc. will be posted on this webpage Wednesday, May 28. This is the first EF5 tornado in Iowa since the Jordan tornado of June 13, 1976.
A large and destructive tornado moved across Butler and Black Hawk counties on Sunday May 25th. The initial touchdown occurred near the Butler and Grundy county line, 2 miles south of Aplington at 4:48 pm CDT and quickly grew in size and intensity as it approached Parkersburg. The tornado was nearly 3/4s of a mile wide as it moved through the southern end of Parkersburg at 4:59 pm CDT. Significant structural damage occurred in the town of Parkersburg including 100 to 200 homes destroyed. The tornado maintained size and intensity as it move towards New Hartford. At 5:09 pm CDT the storm moved just north of New Hartford once again causing significant structural and tree damage. The tornado weakened around 3 miles east of New Hartford with lesser damage as it moved east to north of the Waterloo and Cedar Falls area. Significant straight line winds occurred along and just south of the tornado track with preliminary estimates of 90 to 100 mph. The tornado then grew in size to near 1.2 miles wide north of Dunkerton causing substantial damage to a farmstead there. The tornado lifted just before entering Buchanan county.
The image below depicts the approximate damage path. The width of the green line in no way implies damage path width at this time. The damage path map will be updated and refined this week as more information is gathered.
EF5 ain’t nothin’. When Barak was a boy he lived through an EF12.
I thought he was going to ban them.
prayers for the people who had to suffer this storm. That had to hurt.
I didn’t think a “low-end F5” tornado was possible.
This hits close to home, (home is on that map) I know at least 4 people who lost everything, except their lives. There are reports of finding cancelled checks and mail from Parkersburg in Wisconsin.
Prayers for all of them. I understand Senator Grassley’s farm is very close to the tornado’s path.
F4 Devastating tornado 207-260 mph Well-constructed houses leveled; structures with weak foundations blown off some distance; cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5 Incredible tornado 261-318 mph Strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable distances to disintegrate; automobile sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters; trees debarked; steel re-inforced concrete structures badly damaged.
F6 Inconceivable tornado 319-379 mph These winds are very unlikely. The small area of damage they might produce would probably not be recognizable along with the mess produced by F4 and F5 wind that would surround the F6 winds. Missiles, such as cars and refrigerators would do serious secondary damage that could not be directly identified as F6 damage. If this level is ever achieved, evidence for it might only be found in some manner of ground swirl pattern, for it may never be identifiable through engineering studies
The F6 sounds like only a theory. If you had an F6 you wouldn’t know it. Interesting.
An interesting tidbit;
A few years ago, I took the scenic route to Waterloo. There was this place on the way called the “Twister Bed and Breakfast”. Supposedly, the last scenes from “Twister” were filmed at this farm.
If I remember correctly, it wasn’t far from Grundy Center.
Missed me by a quarter mile.
Tornado ping!
That would have been near Eldora, I think, just a bit west and north of Grundy Center. The last scenes from Twister were indeed filmed there.
Sounds like we need to start a Cedar Valley Freepers group or something...I wasn't quite that close (Waterloo) but my parents' house was within a mile or so of the path.
Does the “low end” description reduce the handout?
Eldora, I believe that is right.
Those out of the way places were small town America at it’s finest. Some of the nicest folks you will ever meet.
In an F5, wreckage like this is usually sourced from earlier in the twister’s path. 5s generally take up the wreckage they cause with them and deposit it somewhere else.
Also a ping to people who were on the original storm thread.
Yes, that’s F5. A stronger one would have abraded the street away.
Unbelievable. Thanks for the ping.
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