Heavy snow and difficult travel expected again, heaviest snow in southern Minnesota

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The tornado count from last week's severe storms in southern Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin now stands at 16.

Fifteen of those tornadoes were in Minnesota, making the Sept. 20 storms the largest September tornado outbreak on record in the state, according to the National Weather Service. 

Crews have been surveying the damage across several counties in the wake of the storms in an effort to identify where tornadoes touched down. They also reviewed satellite and radar imagery, spoke with local officials and storm spotters, and used drone and aerial footage.

"The difficulty with surveying this event was due in part to many potential tornado tracks amongst widespread wind damage," the Weather Service 

. "Since the storms were racing east northeastward around 65 mph, many of the typical indicators for differentiating tornado versus straight
line wind damage were not available, particularly across Rice County."

https://twitter.com/NWSTwinCities/status/1045854609460396032

Authorities said the strongest tornado appears to be one that destroyed several homes in Morristown and continued northeast toward the north side of Faribault, where it caused major damage to the Faribault Municipal Airport.

That tornado is rated an EF2 on the 0-5 Enhanced Fujita scale, with winds estimated at 120 to 130 mph. It was on the ground for about 20 minutes over a path of about 25 miles, the Weather Service reported, with a maximum width of about 1,000 yards.

Additional surveying may result in changes to the tornado count, but as of Friday here are the other tornadoes that touched down in southern Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin on the evening of Sept. 20:

Disasters

Weather and Climate News

Andrew Krueger

Author

The Sept. 20 storms are now the largest September tornado outbreak on record in Minnesota, according to the National Weather Service.

Tornado count from southern Minnesota, western Wisconsin storms now at 16

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