Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 1980

F3 tornado, Stearns County, Minnesota, September 3, 1980

This F3 tornado ran 3.8 miles across Stearns County on September 3, 1980, touching down at 7:36 PM CDT and reaching 60 yards wide. It killed 1 person and injured 15, and did $5 million to $50 million of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mphthis tornado

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F3
Date
September 3, 1980
Touchdown
7:36 PM CDT (00:36 UTC)
Path length
3.8 miles (6.1 km)
Path width
60 yards (55 m)
Deaths
1
Injuries
15
Property damage
$5 million to $50 million
County
Stearns County
Touchdown point
45.530, -94.220
Lift-off point
45.580, -94.150
Record number
789

What the Weather Service recorded

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

AgeSexWhereKind
Direct

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Minneapolis, MN (KSTC), 00:00Z

0.6 hours before the tornado, 91 km from the path. September 4, 1980.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 1980-09-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2794 joules per kilogram, CIN -14, lifted condensation level 1122 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 1980-09-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 234 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2794 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3465 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1122 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
234 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
320 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
3.6
Supercell composite
21.7
0-3 km lapse rate
6.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Minneapolis, MN (KSTC), 12:00Z

11.4 hours after it, 91 km from the path. September 4, 1980.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1980-09-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -13912, lifted condensation level 1370 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1980-09-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 44 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 91 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-13912 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1370 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
91 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
109 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1980 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of September 3, 1980

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 36:00 PM CDTF2Perry, AR0.127$5,000 to $50,000
September 36:49 PM CDTF2Stearns, MN1.0150$500,000 to $5 million
September 37:03 PM CDTF0Stearns, MN0.110under $50
September 37:10 PM CDTF0Stearns, MN0.110under $50
September 39:00 PM CDTF0Kossuth, IA0.330$5,000 to $50,000
September 39:00 PM CDTF0Kossuth, IA1.030$5,000 to $50,000
September 39:40 PM CDTF0Scott, IA0.230$5,000 to $50,000
September 310:00 PM CDTF2Douglas, WI9.980$5,000 to $50,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.