When a very rare clockwise spinning tornado touched down in South Dakota
On this day in weather history, an anticyclonic tornado touched down in South Dakota.
This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by Chris Mei from The Weather Network, featuring stories about people, communities and events and how weather impacted them.
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On Saturday, June 15, 2019, an EF-0 tornado hit just northeast of Estelline, South Dakota. On average, South Dakota gets 36 tornadoes each year. So the state isn't known for their twisters, but this specific one is particularly rare.
The tornado touched down at 6:05 p.m. and lasted under a minute. It took down seven trees in its path. The tornado wind speed peaked at around 120 km/h.
According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it was a very rare "anticyclonic" tornado, meaning it was rotating in a clockwise direction.
In the Northern Hemisphere, approximately 99 per cent of tornadoes rotate in a counter-clockwise direction. So anticyclonic tornadoes are very rare. The opposite is true in the Southern Hemisphere.
Courtesy of Sean and Kathy Lesnar
Most anticyclonic tornadoes are smaller and weaker than cyclonic twisters.
On June 15, the tornado split from its parent storm. The thunderstorm was heading southeast, and the twister took off and headed east. These types of storms are called "left moving" because they move to the left of their parent storm.
To learn more about this anticyclonic tornado, listen to today's episode of "This Day In Weather History."
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Thumbnail: Courtesy of Facebook/Sean and Kathy Lesnar
