May Tornado Near Bowdle, South Dakota, Was an EF4

The National Weather Service says a tornado that damaged farms in South Dakota’s Edmunds County in late May was the first EF4 twister in the state in seven years, and only the sixth in the past 60 years.

The tornado that touched down outside Bowdle on May 22 was one of several in the state that day, and the strongest. EF4 tornadoes have wind speeds between 166 and 200 mph.

The scale runs from EF1 to EF5, with the strongest tornadoes having wind speeds more than 200 mph. There has been only one EF5 twister recorded in South Dakota, in May 1965 near Gregory.

The other EF4 tornadoes hit in 2003, 2002, 1998, 1969 and 1965.

Information from: Aberdeen American News