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Makoshika State Park Cirrus Anvil Frost Covered Tree Sunset in Glasgow Antique Farm Implement
Damage Survey Results
Squall Line with Embedded Supercells
8 July 2002
 
Staff Participating in Survey:
Julie Adolphson (MIC)
Andy Pohl (IT)
Jesse Hystad (STEP Student)
 
Date Completed: 9 July 2002
 
Discussion:
South End of Bonnie Street in Glasgow
The team departed at approximately 9:00am and drove to Bonnie Street, which is just west and south of the Glasgow High School. We met with Mr. Larry Cote and Mrs Dave Watson Jr. Mr. Cote had called the office to report a shed blown into the Watson's yard, which is located just to the north of his yard.
The shed was approximately 14' X 14' and was anchored to concrete just to the west of Watsons'. It was made of aluminum and looked to be at least 10 years old. The horizontal distance that the shed traveled was less than 10 yards, and there were three telephone/electrical wires that the shed either passed in between or over. A witness believed that the shed was high enough to clear the wires. The vertical distance over the wires was approximately 35 feet. Based on the structural integrity of the shed, and the direction from which it originated, as well as other minor damage nearby, the damage was ruled as straight-line wind gust.
 
Downtown Hinsdale
At approximately 10:00am the team arrived on the east side of Hinsdale, and turned north to survey the Nemont Telephone Cooperative building. This building was made of cinder block with an aluminum roof. The size of the building was approximately 15' X 15' and contained communications switching equipment. The roof was completely blown off and traveled to the northeast approximately 30 yards. The roof was crumpled in such a way that it was believed to roll over on itself as it blew across a vacant lot. The team noticed a splattering of insulation (blown-type) on the north and east wall of the building. The insulation also blew into a house directly east of the building. Torrential rain soaked the equipment inside the telephone building and caused a lot of the insulation to splatter up from the ground onto the lower north wall.
The team headed west down the street from the Nemont building, where a large cottonwood tree had fallen on Leora Jones' house. According to Mrs. Jones, the tree was well over 50 years old. The location of the break in the tree was an area of considerable decay. Given the tree's decay and direction of fall, and other less significant damage in the area, the team determined the cause of the damage to be a straight-line wind gust from the southwest or west.
 
West of Hinsdale
Next, the team headed west on US Highway 2, west of Hinsdale. Approximately five miles out of town, at the Dull family farm, signs of damage were noted. Mr Dull met us and described what had occurred. First, a small metal shed was picked up and spun around in place for a few seconds and then toppled over on its side. Next 10' X 12' three-sided metal livestock stall was damaged. The front on the building was open to the southwest. It had the roof, which was well-anchored in the center of the building (with a 12-inch diameter solid wood beam), ripped off and strewn approximately 100 yards to the northeast into a pasture. The beam in the center of the building was incased in three feet of concrete. The debris from the stall spread out and turned counterclockwise into the field. Mr Dull could not see because the visibility was poor, so he was unable to tell if the damage was due to a tornado or straight-line winds. Given the type of damage and direction of the debris field, it was determined that an F0 tornado had occurred at the Dull farm.
 
Park Grove
The team then headed back east towards Park Grove (near Fort Peck) to survey reported damage. Three fallen trees were noted approximately three miles north of Park Grove. These trees were all lying towards the northeast and were likely the result of straight-line winds. In Park Grove the team visited with the Baker family who had significant damage to the area across the street from their home. Substantial damage was done to their garage and its contents. Some of the damage was a direct result of debris which had come from the southwest, where a roof was taken off a modular home. Of particular note was a small (5 inch-diameter) tree which was sheared off with aluminum wrapped around it, this tree was directly to the southwest of the garage. A picnic table lost its top, entirely, with no evidence of wood left on the top. The garage door and frame was noticeably broken and listing. The metal from the larger portion (to the west of the above mentioned portion of the garage) was extremely mangled. As in Hinsdale, the visibility was near zero in rain, so that the witnesses to the storm were unable to see rotation. The entrance to the storm cellar was significant damaged, and the residents did not attempt to enter the cellar before or during the storm. The path of damage was quite narrow, but it was difficult to detect if there was indeed rotation associated with the Bakers' damage.
About a half-mile to the southwest of the Bakers' home was the modular home, owned by the Bryans. This modular home appeared to be around 20 years-old, with reasonable construction. It was located on a point overlooking water and then more open space to the southwest through northwest. Just a year ago, the home had sustained considerable hail damage, and the roof was replaced. The roof was lifted off from the southwest, as debris was noted left over in the northeast corner of the home. On the west (front of the home) wall, some windows were broken, but one was lifted out of its frame and placed perfectly upright between two twin beds, with its glass intact. Very little debris was deposited close to the home. Some strips of insulation were found at least 40 feet high into the trees located directly behind (northeast) the home. A 5' X 6' shed was pushed over in the northeast corner of the back yard. The majority of the debris appeared to have hit the Bakers' garage mentioned above. Although not ruled out, the team could not determine with certainty whether a tornado was the cause at this time. In the area to the immediate northeast of the Bakers' was additional debris, such as aluminum siding noted on top of a pick up truck, which had been parked under a tree for protection.
North or northwest of the Bryans' home was an area of trees which had considerable limb breakage. This area was about 50' X 50' and showed signs of rotation. Limbs where strewn in a convergent and even circular pattern. Away from the center of the circular pattern, was a more distinct convergent pattern, with limbs to the south lying to the northwest, with the limbs near Bryans' home lying to the northeast. In addition, there was a well-constructed (very heavy) 8'X8' shed that was rotated off its cinder block, but not damaged in any other way. The team determined that the above was conclusive evidence that there was indeed an F0 tornado responsible for some of the damage in Park Grove. However, the many other residents interviewed could not confirm seeing rotation, but all mentioned the visibility was low during the highest incidence of wind. Many also noted seeing some low-level rotation prior to the onset of precipitation.
 
Meteorological Information
The WSR-88D performance was fair during this event. The majority of the base and derived products indicated a significant shear line ahead of the convection. Also noted was several supercells that evolved into the bowing line. Although it may be premature to say without further analysis of the radar data, the weak tornadoes may have been rain-wrapped vortices associated with mini-supercells. Another possibility, is that the weak tornadoes formed along the leading edge of the gust front. However, given that the witnesses all said the winds were associated with the rain, it seems less likely that the latter would be the case.
One other note of interest was that once the line became more parallel to the mid-level flow, the winds were noticeably weaker, and severe wind reports decreased. A number of TVSs were detected, including at or near the time of the damage reported here, but the locations of the TVSs were not in conjunction with the areas of damage noted.
 
Wind damage in Glasgow.
Wind Damage on Highway 2 in Glasgow.
Straight Line Wind Damage in Hinsdale.
F0 Tornado Damage 5 Miles West of Hinsdale.
More Straight Line Wind Damage in Hinsdale.
F0 Tornado Damage in Park Grove.
Straight Line Wind Damage North of Park Grove.
 

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