Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2025
Tornado Watch 181
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 28, 2025, 3:27 PM CDT for 19 counties in Iowa; 29 counties in Minnesota; 14 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 8 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 28, 2025, 3:27 PM CDT (20:27 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 28, 2025, 11:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 8 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 3 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 65 kt
All 62 counties
Butler County, IA, Calhoun County, IA, Cerro Gordo County, IA, Chickasaw County, IA, Floyd County, IA, Franklin County, IA, Hamilton County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Hardin County, IA, Howard County, IA, Humboldt County, IA, Kossuth County, IA, Mitchell County, IA, Pocahontas County, IA, Sac County, IA, Webster County, IA, Winnebago County, IA, Worth County, IA, Wright County, IA, Anoka County, MN, Benton County, MN, Blue Earth County, MN, Carver County, MN, Chisago County, MN, Dakota County, MN, Dodge County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Fillmore County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Goodhue County, MN, Hennepin County, MN, Isanti County, MN, Kanabec County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN, Mille Lacs County, MN, Mower County, MN, Olmsted County, MN, Pine County, MN, Ramsey County, MN, Rice County, MN, Scott County, MN, Sherburne County, MN, Steele County, MN, Wabasha County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Washington County, MN, Winona County, MN, Wright County, MN, Barron County, WI, Buffalo County, WI, Burnett County, WI, Chippewa County, WI, Dunn County, WI, Eau Claire County, WI, Pepin County, WI, Pierce County, WI, Polk County, WI, Rusk County, WI, Saint Croix County, WI, Sawyer County, WI, Trempealeau County, WI, Washburn County, WI
The radar
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:28 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
- 70%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 60%
- 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
33 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 3:39 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Meeker, Stearns, Wright | 36 min |
| Apr 28, 3:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Brown, Nicollet, Watonwan | 45 min |
| Apr 28, 4:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Benton, Morrison, Stearns | 35 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, 4:38 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Le Sueur, Rice, Scott, Waseca | 37 min |
| Apr 28, 4:43 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Benton, Isanti, Mille Lacs, Sherburne | 22 min |
| Apr 28, 4:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Faribault, Freeborn, Martin, Waseca | 38 min |
| Apr 28, 5:00 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Faribault, Waseca | 45 min |
| Apr 28, 5:20 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Le Sueur, Rice, Steele, Waseca | 25 min |
| Apr 28, 5:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Faribault, Freeborn, Martin, Steele, Waseca | 46 min |
| Apr 28, 5:41 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Steele | 19 min |
| Apr 28, 5:44 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Goodhue, Rice | 31 min |
| Apr 28, 5:48 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Dodge | 42 min |
| Apr 28, 5:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Emmet, Kossuth | 22 min |
| Apr 28, 5:56 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Goodhue, Rice, Steele | 34 min |
| Apr 28, 6:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Goodhue, Rice, Steele | 45 min |
| Apr 28, 6:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Faribault, Freeborn, Steele, Waseca | 45 min |
| Apr 28, 6:24 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Faribault, Freeborn | 36 min |
| Apr 28, 6:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Goodhue | 47 min |
| Apr 28, 6:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Wabasha | 46 min |
| Apr 28, 6:43 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Kossuth, Winnebago | 33 min |
| Apr 28, 6:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Faribault, Freeborn, Steele | 34 min |
| Apr 28, 7:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pepin | 45 min |
| Apr 28, 7:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Wabasha | 25 min |
| Apr 28, 7:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Hancock, Kossuth, Winnebago | 31 min |
| Apr 28, 7:38 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Eau Claire | 37 min |
| Apr 28, 8:02 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Chippewa, Eau Claire | 28 min |
| Apr 28, 8:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Price, Sawyer | 49 min |
| Apr 28, 8:34 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Hancock, Winnebago | 41 min |
| Apr 28, 9:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Emmet, Kossuth, Palo Alto | 39 min |
| Apr 28, 9:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Cerro Gordo, Hancock, Winnebago, Worth | 26 min |
| Apr 28, 10:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Grundy, Hardin, Marshall, Story, Tama | 47 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, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 70 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, 12:29 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Lyon and 5 more | 10 hr |
| Apr 28, 2:25 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allamakee, Bremer, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Clayton and 18 more | 2 hr |
| Apr 28, 3:28 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, 2025Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 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.