Four nighttime tornadoes touched down in eastern Minnesota last weekend
Spotty EF-0 to EF-1 damage reported.
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This is one of those “it could have been so much worse” stories.
A total of four tornadoes touched down late Friday and Saturday nights. The twisters did some damage but fortunately caused no reported injuries.
The first two tornadoes occurred as a massive squall-line raced through central Minnesota Friday night into early Saturday morning. An EF-0 tornado with 80 mph estimated winds tossed pontoon boats around and damaged docks and trees on Rush Lake about 50 miles north of the Twin Cities.
A second EF-1 tornado also touched down in northwest Isanti County. Here are the details on the two tornadoes from early Saturday morning.
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PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 829 PM CDT SUN JUL 19 2020
...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR EARLY MORNING JULY 18 AND LATE EVENING JULY 18, 2020 TORNADO EVENTS - INITIAL ISSUANCE...
.NORTHWEST ISANTI COUNTY, MN TORNADO...
RATING: EF-1 ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 90 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 3.0 MILES PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 100 YARDS
FATALITIES: 0 INJURIES: 0
START DATE: JUL 18 2020 START TIME: 1259 AM CDT START LOCATION: 9 SSE OGILVIE, MN START LAT/LON: 45.7092 / -93.3803 END DATE: JUL 18 2020
END TIME: 105 AM CDT END LOCATION: 7 W BRAHAM, MN END LAT/LON: 45.7092 / -93.3185
THIS TORNADO WAS EMBEDDED WITHIN A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING STRAIGHT LINE WIND DAMAGE, BUT A CONCENTRATED AREA OF DAMAGE EXHIBITING TORNADO CHARACTERISTICS TRACKED ACROSS NORTHWEST ISANTI COUNTY. A LOCAL ANEMOMETER MEASURED AN 87 MPH GUST.
RUSH LAKE, MN TORNADO...
RATING: EF-0 ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 80 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 1.5 MILES PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 100 YARDS
FATALITIES: 0 INJURIES: 0
START DATE: JUL 18 2020 START TIME: 124 AM CDT START LOCATION: 5 SE BRAHAM, MN
(WEST SIDE OF RUSH LAKE) START LAT/LON: 45.6765 / -93.1032 END DATE: JUL 18 2020 END TIME: 127 AM CDT END LOCATION: 6 SE BRAHAM, MN (SOUTH SIDE OF RUSH LAKE) END LAT/LON: 45.6634 / -93.0886 A BRIEF TORNADO SPIN UP WITHIN A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OCCURRED ON THE WEST SIDE OF RUSH LAKE AND TRACKED TO THE SOUTH SIDE. BOATS AND DOCKS WERE DAMAGED. SPORADIC STRAIGHT LINE WIND DAMAGE OCCURRED SURROUNDING THIS TRACK.
Twin Cities area tornadoes Saturday night
Two tornadoes touched down along the Minnesota-Wisconsin border east of the Twin Cities Saturday night. The rotation signatures were captured clearly on the terminal Doppler radar at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The first tornado near Afton, Minnesota was a weaker EF-0 with 65 mph winds. It on the ground for just nine minutes and produced little visible damage.
WOODBURY, MN TO AFTON, MN TORNADO...
RATING: EF-0 ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 65 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 3.1 MILES PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 50 YARDS
FATALITIES: 0 INJURIES: 0
START DATE: JUL 18 2020 START TIME: 942 PM CDT START LOCATION: 2 SE WOODBURY, MN START LAT/LON: 44.8900 / -92.9050 END DATE: JUL 18 2020 END TIME: 951 PM CDT END LOCATION: 3 W AFTON, MN END LAT/LON: 44.9050 / -92.8450
NO DAMAGE WAS FOUND AND NO DAMAGE REPORTS WERE RECEIVED. HOWEVER, KMPX RADAR CONFIRMED A TORNADO BASED ON A BRIEF TORNADIC DEBRIS SIGNATURE AND TMSP RADAR TRACKED A COUPLET NORTHEAST ACROSS SOUTHERN WASHINGTON COUNTY. THEREFORE, THE TORNADO IS RATED EF0. PATH LENGTH, BEGINNING AND ENDING POINTS, AND BEGINNING AND ENDING TIMES ARE APPROXIMATE.
The second twister crossed into Wisconsin and was an EF-1 with 100 mph estimated winds.
SOUTHERN WASHINGTON COUNTY, MN INTO PIERCE COUNTY, WI TORNADO...
RATING: EF-1 ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 100 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 9.5 MILES PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 400 YARDS
FATALITIES: 0 INJURIES: 0
START DATE: JUL 18 2020 START TIME: 953 PM CDT START LOCATION: 5 N HASTINGS, MN START LAT/LON: 44.8188 / -92.8441 END DATE: JUL 18 2020 END TIME: 1020 PM CDT END LOCATION: 2 SW RIVER FALLS, WI END LAT/LON: 44.8336 / -92.6571
EXTENSIVE TREE DAMAGE ALONG THE PATH, MANY OF WHICH WERE SNAPPED ABOUT HALF WAY UP. THE HEAVIEST DAMAGE OCCURRED ON TOP OF A BLUFF AS THE TORNADO CROSSED THE ST. CROIX RIVER INTO WISCONSIN. A FEW FARM OUTBUILDINGS WERE ALSO DAMAGED.
The four twisters occurred late at night well beyond the statistical 3 to 7 p.m. peak for tornadoes in Minnesota. The first two were associated with the advancing MCS squall-line and likely spun up on the front edge of that system.
The Saturday night twister occurred with discrete super cells that formed Saturday evening near and over the Twin Cities.
The Twin Cities metro area was very fortunate these tornadoes didn’t drop about an hour earlier. There would have been extensive damage to the greater Twin Cities.
