Five-ton tractor 'missing' in South Dakota following tornado

Tornadoes have been known to toss around everything from cars and trucks to cows and people, but usually the objects don't vanish completely. However, last Thursday, a tornado near the Montana/South Dakota border apparently "lofted and destroyed some farm machinery, including a 5-ton tractor that has yet to be found," according to the National Weather Service. Winds were estimated at 136 mph. "While much of the damage was consistent with an EF-1 or EF-2 tornado, the most significant damage was consistent with an EF-3 tornado," the weather service noted. The tornado will be officially categorized in the next few days. The weather service said last Thursday’s storm spawned at least five tornadoes in rural Carter County, Montana, and Harding County, South Dakota. The incredible power of tornadoes is well-documented. According to the book Freaks of the Storm by Randy Cerveny, a 1970 Texas tornado once apparently "pushed and rolled an 18-ton cylindrical liquid fertilizer tank – measuring 40 feet long and 11 feet in diameter – for over half a mile." Cerveny reported that in 1927, a Kansas tornado turned over a five-ton Caterpillar tractor and then rolled it a "remarkable" 500 feet...MORE