Storm Impacting the Northwest U.S.; Fire Weather Conditions in Southern California; Severe Weather in the South

A Pacific storm is bringing areas of low elevation rain, moderate to heavy mountain snow, and high winds to the Northwest. Strong Santa Ana winds and very dry conditions are producing elevated to critical fire weather conditions in southern California. Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms are possible through early Wednesday morning across parts of northeast Texas into western Tennessee. Read More >

Overview

Scattered thunderstorms developed in the late afternoon and evening across southeastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota and northwestern Iowa. One area of storms extend from near Huron to Tyndall in South Dakota. These storms produced up to quarter size hail as well as a tornado near Vilas, South Dakota. The second area of storms was located Jackson, Minnesota to Storm Lake, Iowa. Several reports of dime to golf ball size hail were reported.


Picture of the funnel cloud northwest of Vilas, South Dakota. Photo by Brittany Lunstra.	Photo of the tornado northwest of Vilas, SD taken around 8:20 pm CDT. Photo by Jeffrey Hayden of Rogue Storm Chasers.	Hail covers the ground 4 miles south of Carthage, South Dakota. Photo by Mary Henkel

Tornado
Radar

Tornadoes:

Tornado - Vilas, South Dakota
MINER COUNTY

Date	May 8, 2018
Time (Local)	8:20 - 8:21 PM CDT
EF Rating	EF-0
Est. Peak Winds	80 mph
Path Length	200 yds
Max Width	50 yds
Injuries/Deaths	None
Summary: A tornado briefly touched down approximately 3 miles northwest of Vilas, SD in Miner County. The tornado was only on the ground for a minute or two and remained over open fields the entire time. No damage was observed with the tornado.

Location of tornado near Vilas, SD

Location of tornado near Vilas, South Dakota

Downloadable KMZ File

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph

Radar and Precipitation:

Header


A loop of radar imagery from 7 pm - 9:30 pm CDT 8 May 2018.	A video showing the evolution of the Vilas, SD tornado from radar. Click on image to enlarge.	Where warnings were issued and the reports received through 1 pm 9 May 2018.	Map of precipitation from 8 May 2018.