NWS: 5 tornadoes Sunday including rare 'satellite tornado'

Sunday’s meteorologically interesting tornado outbreak just got more interesting. Damage patterns indicate a relatively rare “satellite” tornado formed and revolved around the bigger Silver Lake, Minn., tornado.

Survey teams from the Twin Cities National Weather Service office found damage swaths from a total of five tornadoes across the area.

Fujita ratings: EF-0 and EF-1

The Twin Cities NWS assigned Enhanced F-Scale ratings for the twisters of EF-0 and EF-1. The tornadoes produced winds between 60 and 105 mph. The strongest tornado Sunday was the EF-1 tornado east of Silver Lake with winds of 105 mph.

The Forest Lake-Scandia tornado in east-central Minnesota packed winds of 90 mph. It was on the ground for 6.6 miles.

Rare ‘satellite tornado’

Survey teams form the Twin Cities NWS office found damage patterns consistent with a rare satellite tornado near the larger Silver Lake tornado.

Satellite tornadoes are tornadoes that rotate around larger, primary tornadoes. They interact with the same “parent” mesocyclone.

Satellite tornadoes form apart from the primary tornado and are not considered subvortices. They are considered to be separate tornadoes.