Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 1984

F3 tornado, Freeborn County, Minnesota, June 7, 1984

This F3 tornado ran 14.0 miles across Freeborn County on June 7, 1984, touching down at 7:19 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 12, 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
June 7, 1984
Touchdown
7:19 PM CDT (00:19 UTC)
Path length
14.0 miles (22.5 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
12
Property damage
$5 million to $50 million
County
Freeborn County
Touchdown point
43.670, -93.350
Lift-off point
43.880, -93.330
Record number
500

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

0.3 hours before the tornado, 121 km from the path. June 8, 1984.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 1984-06-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 184 joules per kilogram, CIN -82, lifted condensation level 1228 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 1984-06-08The 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 141 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 knots.193958Sfc1 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
184 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-82 J/kg
Surface CAPE
862 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1228 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
141 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
210 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.9
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Minneapolis, MN (KSTC), 12:00Z

11.7 hours after it, 121 km from the path. June 8, 1984.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1984-06-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 37 joules per kilogram, CIN -29, lifted condensation level 679 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1984-06-08The 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 67 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 21 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
37 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-29 J/kg
Surface CAPE
104 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
679 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
67 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Mankato (MKT), 68 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:00 UTC7268120° 25 kt996.3-SHRA
23:17 UTC130° 20 kt995.9
00:26 UTC120° 40 kt47991.5
00:51 UTC6967120° 40 kt45990.2
01:25 UTC6261160° 20 kt992.9

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1984 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 7, 1984

40 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 71:55 AM CDTF2Avoyelles Parish, LA1.01003$50,000 to $500,000
June 73:45 PM CDTF1Woodbury, IA7.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 74:14 PM CDTF2Cherokee, IA10.077$500,000 to $5 million
June 73:30 PM MDTF0Grant, ND0.310
June 74:33 PM CDTF2Brown, KS18.03005$500,000 to $5 million
June 74:42 PM CDTF2Ida, IA16.01501$500,000 to $5 million
June 74:43 PM CDTF2Cass, IA23.01508$500,000 to $5 million
June 75:04 PM CDTF1O'Brien, IA6.077$50,000 to $500,000
June 75:10 PM CDTF2Ida, IA12.01001$500,000 to $5 million
June 75:12 PM CDTF2Buena Vista, IA4.01003$500,000 to $5 million
June 75:17 PM CDTF2Pocahontas, IA25.01002$500,000 to $5 million
June 75:20 PM CDTF3Page, IA25.01003$500,000 to $5 million
June 75:23 PM CDTF1Clay, IA1.077$50,000 to $500,000
June 75:30 PM CDTF2Clay, IA2.077$50,000 to $500,000
June 75:37 PM CDTF0Ward, ND0.510
June 76:00 PM CDTF2Pocahontas, IA8.0100$500,000 to $5 million
June 76:15 PM CDTF2Humboldt, IA22.0150$500,000 to $5 million
June 76:15 PM CDTF3Kossuth, IA9.01505$5 million to $50 million
June 76:29 PM CDTF2Kossuth, IA21.01501$500,000 to $5 million
June 76:45 PM CDTF4Harrison, MO to IA134.0250364$5 million to $50 million
June 76:45 PM CDTF2Hancock, IA18.0127$500,000 to $5 million
June 76:59 PM CDTF0Wells, ND0.510
June 77:00 PM CDTF1Pawnee, NE0.350$500 to $5,000
June 77:15 PM CDTF1Freeborn, MN6.080$50,000 to $500,000
June 77:20 PM CDTF1Waseca, MN1.050$500 to $5,000
June 77:25 PM CDTF1Freeborn, MN18.080$500,000 to $5 million
June 77:36 PM CDTF2Mower, MN5.01007$500,000 to $5 million
June 77:54 PM CDTF1Lucas, IA0.550$5,000 to $50,000
June 78:15 PM CDTF1Olmsted, MN1.050$50,000 to $500,000
June 78:35 PM CDTF0Goodhue, MN2.550$5,000 to $50,000
June 78:45 PM CDTF2Ringgold, IA14.015013$500,000 to $5 million
June 79:33 PM CDTF1Wayne, IA0.550$5,000 to $50,000
June 79:33 PM CDTF2Keokuk, IA24.02001$500,000 to $5 million
June 710:00 PM CDTF2Chippewa, WI12.0150$50,000 to $500,000
June 710:00 PM CDTF2Miner, SD0.160$50,000 to $500,000
June 710:30 PM CDTF2Daviess, MO1.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 711:00 PM CDTF2Daviess, MO3.01001$500,000 to $5 million
June 711:30 PM CDTF1Price, WI1.050$5,000 to $50,000
June 712:30 AM CDTF2Lafayette, WI11.040$50,000 to $500,000
June 712:41 AM CDTF5Barneveld tornado, WI36.04509200$50,000 to $500,000

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.