Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2025
Tornado Watch 180
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 28, 2025, 12:29 PM CDT for 11 counties in Iowa; 25 counties in Minnesota. It was in force for 10 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 28, 2025, 12:29 PM CDT (17:29 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 28, 2025, 10:23 PM CDT
- In force
- 10 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 3 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 70 kt
All 36 counties
Buena Vista County, IA, Cherokee County, IA, Clay County, IA, Dickinson County, IA, Emmet County, IA, Lyon County, IA, O'Brien County, IA, Osceola County, IA, Palo Alto County, IA, Plymouth County, IA, Sioux County, IA, Brown County, MN, Chippewa County, MN, Cottonwood County, MN, Jackson County, MN, Kandiyohi County, MN, Lac qui Parle County, MN, Lincoln County, MN, Lyon County, MN, Martin County, MN, McLeod County, MN, Meeker County, MN, Murray County, MN, Nicollet County, MN, Nobles County, MN, Pipestone County, MN, Pope County, MN, Redwood County, MN, Renville County, MN, Rock County, MN, Sibley County, MN, Stearns County, MN, Stevens County, MN, Swift County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Yellow Medicine County, MN
The radar
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 135 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:30 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.
Open the radar archive at this moment
The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 60%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 50%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 60%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 30%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 80%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 80%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 95%
Warnings issued inside it
32 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 12:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Lyon | 34 min |
| Apr 28, 1:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Murray, Nobles, Rock | 47 min |
| Apr 28, 2:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Cottonwood, Jackson, Murray, Nobles | 48 min |
| Apr 28, 2:34 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FSD | Cottonwood, Murray | 26 min |
| Apr 28, 2:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Lyon, Osceola | 46 min |
| Apr 28, 2:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Clay, Dickinson, O'Brien, Osceola | 21 min |
| Apr 28, 3:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Cottonwood, Jackson, Nobles | 43 min |
| Apr 28, 3:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Brown, Watonwan | 36 min |
| Apr 28, 3:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Dickinson, Osceola | 35 min |
| Apr 28, 3:39 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Meeker, Stearns, Wright | 36 min |
| Apr 28, 3:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Cottonwood, Jackson | 33 min |
| Apr 28, 3:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Brown, Nicollet, Watonwan | 45 min |
| Apr 28, 3:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Martin | 67 min |
| Apr 28, 4:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Benton, Morrison, Stearns | 35 min |
| Apr 28, 4:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Emmet | 47 min |
| Apr 28, 4:14 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Benton, Sherburne, Stearns, Wright | 31 min |
| Apr 28, 4:24 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Faribault, Martin | 36 min |
| Apr 28, 4:34 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Clay, Dickinson | 41 min |
| Apr 28, 4:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Faribault, Freeborn, Martin, Waseca | 38 min |
| Apr 28, 4:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Emmet, Palo Alto | 49 min |
| Apr 28, 5:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Clay, Dickinson | 52 min |
| Apr 28, 5:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Faribault, Freeborn, Martin, Steele, Waseca | 46 min |
| Apr 28, 5:40 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Emmet, Palo Alto | 36 min |
| Apr 28, 5:43 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Emmet, Palo Alto | 16 min |
| Apr 28, 5:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Emmet, Kossuth | 22 min |
| Apr 28, 6:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Cherokee, O'Brien, Plymouth, Sioux | 39 min |
| Apr 28, 6:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Lyon, Sioux | 49 min |
| Apr 28, 7:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Osceola | 47 min |
| Apr 28, 7:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Jackson | 38 min |
| Apr 28, 7:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Buena Vista, Cherokee, Plymouth | 51 min |
| Apr 28, 8:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Palo Alto | 24 min |
| Apr 28, 9:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Emmet, Kossuth, Palo Alto | 39 min |
Discussions around it
SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.
The nearest sounding before it
Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 133 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 592 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 323 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 334 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.5
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 10:41 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Lyon, O'Brien, Osceola and 3 more | 2 hr |
| Apr 28, 2:25 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allamakee, Bremer, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Clayton and 18 more | 2 hr |
| Apr 28, 3:27 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Butler, Calhoun, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Floyd, Franklin and 13 more | 8 hr |
| Apr 28, 3:28 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Audubon, Boone, Carroll and 26 more | 3 hr |
| Apr 28, 4:58 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Adams, Audubon, Boone, Carroll, Cass and 16 more | 7 hr |
| Apr 28, 5:29 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Monona, Plymouth, Sioux, Woodbury | 91 min |
| Apr 28, 5:59 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Ida, Lyon and 5 more | 4 hr |
| Apr 28, 6:06 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Howard, Mitchell, Winnebago, Worth | 84 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2025Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2025Every tornado watch in 2025
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.