Thunderstorm Wind, Otter Tail
- When
- August 5, 3:15 PM CST
- Where
- Otter Tail County
- Coordinates
- 46.620, -95.600
Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, August 5, 1981
3 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 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
- 1
- Property damage
- $278,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 6
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 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Clearwater
- When
- August 5, 3:30 PM CST
- Where
- Clearwater County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 0.8 mi
- Path width
- 70 yd
- Property damage
- $3,000
- Coordinates
- 47.700, -95.250
Tornado, Renville
- When
- August 5, 4:00 PM CST
- Where
- Renville County
- Rating
- F2
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 44.750, -95.250
Thunderstorm Wind, Stearns
- When
- August 5, 5:45 PM CST
- Where
- Stearns County
- Coordinates
- 45.600, -94.950
Tornado, Wright
- When
- August 5, 7:30 PM CST
- Where
- Wright County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.3 mi
- Path width
- 200 yd
- Injuries
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Coordinates
- 45.300, -94.220
Thunderstorm Wind, St. Louis
- When
- August 5, 8:30 PM CST
- Where
- St. Louis County
- Coordinates
- 47.000, -92.830
What these are
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
- 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.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Kentucky, August 5, 1981
- Tornado in New York, August 5, 1981
- Hail and Damaging Wind in North Dakota, August 5, 1981
- Damaging Winds in New Hampshire, August 5, 1981
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Colorado, August 5, 1981
- Tornado in New Mexico, August 5, 1981
- Hail in Wyoming, August 5, 1981
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, August 5, 1981
- Hail in Nebraska, August 5, 1981
More
Every storm in Minnesota in 1981Every state in 1981This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Minnesota, 1981
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: 10051562, 10051563, 10051564, 10051565, 10051566, 10051567.