# 2024 Greenfield tornado

The 2024 Greenfield tornado was a violent tornado that tracked across Page, Taylor, Adams, and Adair counties in southwestern Iowa, killing five people, injuring 35 others, and causing over $31 million in property damage, majority of which occurred in the city of Greenfield.

## Quotes
### National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

* "THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION" [...] Primary threats include... Several tornadoes and a few intense tornadoes likely; Widespread damaging winds and isolated significant gusts to 90 mph likely; Scattered large hail likely with isolated very large hail events to 4 inches in diameter possible. [...] "SUMMARY...An increasingly volatile environment and very strong atmospheric winds are expected to yield an outbreak of severe storms including tornadoes and widespread damaging winds across the region through the afternoon and early evening."
** Jared Guyer, Lead Forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center
* "[...] The tornado remained a multi-vortex circulation as it moved into the county producing high end damage for much of its remaining path. The tornado encountered several houses in the vicinity of Fontanelle Road and 320th Street. Many of the structures received at least EF2 damage with one house north of the intersection receiving up to EF4 damage with a sufficiently anchored structure destroyed and slumped into a debris field nearby. Additional EF4 damage was noted at a farmstead on Jordan Avenue south of 280th Street with the house destroyed and trees chewed down to only the largest trucks and portions of the bark removed. [...] Several structures over the next several blocks had up to EF4 damage from SW 3rd Street over the SE 3rd Street and South of Linn Street and north of Oak and Noble Streets. Most of these saw complete destruction of the house with much of the debris scattered in the area but not completely swept away. [...] Of note, according to media reports, a Doppler on Wheels (DOW) intercept research team measured a wind speed of just over 300 mph approximately 150 feet above ground level with this tornado."
** The National Centers for Environmental Information and National Weather Service Des Moines, Iowa
* "For the Greenfield tornado, Warn-on-Forecast yielded strong confidence in the probability of extremely strong near-ground rotation in the Greenfield area more than an hour before the tornado touched down. These results were shared with NWS forecasters in Iowa to assist in their work issuing warnings."
** Wes Moody, journalist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory

### Research/Analysis

* "Very prelim analysis of DOW data show >250 mph peak winds, possibly high as 290, at 44 m (144 ft) above ground in Greenfield, IA. Tornado very intense & also very small, so worst winds were in narrow swath."
** Doppler on Wheels (DOW) research team
* "Impressive measurement! On the IF-scale, 250 mph measured below 60 m above ground level is IF4 on the IF-scale, 290 mph is IF5."
** Pieter Groenemeijer, director of the European Severe Storms Laboratory
* "As the 2024 #BEST field season ends, a glimpse into the data collection during the Greenfield, IA tornado. Peak wind speeds as high as 309-318 mph were calculated in a narrow region 100-160 feet ARL. These are among the highest wind speeds ever determined using DOW data."
** Doppler on Wheels (DOW) research team
* "The DOW scanned over Greenfield at heights of about 30-50 m (100-160 feet) above the ground every 7 seconds, measuring Doppler velocities. The tornado was unusually small and was narrowing as it passed through town. It was moving very fast, at nearly 45 mph (20 m/s). The DOW directly measured Doppler velocities as high as 263-271 mph (118-121 m/s). DOW measurements are used to calculate peak tornado wind speeds using methods described in Wurman et al (2021a) and an upcoming American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) formal standard for determining tornado wind speeds from proximate radar measurements. DOW scientists calculate peak ground relative wind speeds, in a very narrow swath to the immediate east of the path of the center of the tornado circulation, as high as 309-318 mph (138-142 m/s). Since the tornado was very small and fast moving, these peak winds were likely experienced for less than a second at specific locations in town."
** University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
* "[...] without question a tornado capable of EF5 damage".
** Mechanical engineer Ethan Moriarty

### Aftermath

* "Had that tornado been any closer to our hospital or hit us directly, this entire building would be gone".
** Catherine Hillestad, CEO of the Adair County Memorial Hospital
* "Horrific." [...] "It’s just gut wrenching." [...] "I’ve always said Iowa is one big community, and we certainly see that in times of tragedy and we’re witnessing it again."
** Kim Reynolds, the Governor of Iowa