Tornado, Watonwan
- When
- May 18, 3:00 PM CST
- Where
- Watonwan County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 42.4 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Coordinates
- 44.070, -94.800
Tornadoes and Hail in Minnesota, May 18, 1962
3 tornado, 1 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 3
- Property damage
- $30,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 4
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
Event by event
3 tornado, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Stearns
- When
- May 18, 4:15 PM CST
- Where
- Stearns County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 1.5 mi
- Path width
- 7 yd
- Injuries
- 3 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $3,000
- Coordinates
- 45.500, -94.480
Hail,
- When
- May 18, 5:00 PM CST
- Where
- County
- Measured
- 3 in hail
- Coordinates
- 45.580, -94.180
Tornado, Chisago
- When
- May 18, 5:45 PM CST
- Where
- Chisago County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 2 mi
- Path width
- 150 yd
- Property damage
- $3,000
- Coordinates
- 45.680, -92.980
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Hail in Nebraska, May 18, 1962
- Tornadoes and Hail in Iowa, May 18, 1962
- Tornado in Colorado, May 18, 1962
- Tornado and Hail in Kansas, May 18, 1962
- Damaging Winds in Missouri, May 18, 1962
- Hail in Massachusetts, May 18, 1962
- Hail in Vermont, May 18, 1962
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, May 18, 1962
- Hail in Wisconsin, May 18, 1962
- Damaging Wind in Georgia, May 18, 1962
- Hail in Ohio, May 18, 1962
More
Every storm in Minnesota in 1962Every state in 1962This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Minnesota, 1962
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10053243, 10053244, 10053245, 10053246.