National Weather Service Tornado Damage Assessment of the June 21, 2018 EF0 Tornado near Darlington, Idaho

A damage assessment team from the Pocatello National Weather Service Forecast Office traveled to Darlington, Idaho on June 22, 2018. The tornado was believed to have touched down around 1:15pm MDT on June 21, 2018, approximately 5 miles northwest of Darlington, Idaho.  The assessment team found several large hardwood tree limbs down along Huston Road. The largest diameter limb was 1 foot in diameter. About 1.5 miles down Huston Road from Highway 93, a residence on the south side of the road experienced extensive tree damage as well, including a hardwood tree split near the trunk. A second tree was completely uprooted although the root system appeared to be somewhat shallow, perhaps only a couple of feet deep. A third tree was nearly uprooted. A camper was overturned and a large section of the metal roofing had been peeled back. Some of the trusses off of a garage with a metal roof were ripped off. Video of the tornado showed it traveling to the north of Leslie Butte, although it is not clear if it was still on the ground at this point.  

A second video shows the tornado on the ground approximately 1 mile northeast of Darlington around 1:32pm. The video shows the tornado on the ground for at least 3 minutes while east of Darlington. The damage team found a 40 to 50 foot section of barbed wire fencing down along with several metal fencing posts bent over or ripped out of the ground about 1.5 miles east of Darlington. The tornado lifted around 1:38pm MDT. The National Weather Service received reports of wheel lines, a chicken coop, pig pen, a shed destroyed, and a screen door ripped off. However, the damage assessment team was unable to find this damage.

Based on the damage, the final assessment for this tornado is a high-end EF0 with winds of 75 to 85 mph. The tornado is estimated to have been 250 feet wide, 7 miles long, and lasted up to 23 minutes.