Preliminary damage estimates by the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, North Dakota rate the nearly mile wide tornado that hit Northwood, ND at either a strong EF3 or weak EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
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Wow. Seems to be turning out to be the year of Small Town/Big Tornado. This is one of several small towns that has been heavily damaged by tornadoes this year. We aren’t talking small ones either, but massive tornadoes. This year has served up what in my memory seems to be the most LARGE tornadoes we have had in a given year. In fact, although I don’t know what the official tornado count is right now, it does seem we have had a healthy number of tornados this year, and I suspect we will end up above average. An average number of confirmed tornadoes in the U.S. every year is about 1000.
It was interesting to note that the one person killed in this tornado lived in one of the two destroyed mobile home park (where many of the injuries were also). He was taking shelter IN his mobile home when he was killed. How many times must it be said… DO NOT TAKE SHELTER IN YOUR MOBILE HOME FROM TORNADOES!
Another interesting note, as we always see when people are interviewed after an event like this, someone gets on camera saying how they had NO WARNING. As often is the case however, there in fact WAS advanced warning of this tornado. The storm had SEVERE warnings on it prior to the tornado, and a tornado warning was issued at 8:41 pm stating the radar indicated tornado was 3 miles west or Northwood moving east at 30 mph. According to the Grand Forks Herald, the tornado touched down between 8:50 and 8:52 pm. It isn’t clear by the article if that was the actual tornado formation time, or the time it hit the town, but assuming they are talking about the time it hit the town, that’s a good 10 minutes of advanced warning!
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BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 841 PM CDT SUN AUG 26 2007 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... SOUTHERN GRAND FORKS COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA... THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF GRAND FORKS... * UNTIL 945 PM CDT * AT 840 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 3 MILES WEST OF NORTHWOOD...OR 29 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GRAND FORKS...MOVING TO THE EAST AT 30 MPH. * THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... HOLMES AT 910 PM CDT... THOMPSON AT 925 PM CDT... 8 MILES SOUTH OF GRAND FORKS AT 935 PM CDT... IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY BUILDING.