Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota

1999 tornadoes in Minnesota

36 tornadoes touched down in Minnesota in 1999, 25 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1998 2000 The whole country in 1999

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 mph

    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.

Every tornado in Minnesota in 1999

June 5 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 54:35 PM CDTF0Scott0.10

June 6 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 63:00 PM CDTF0Roseau0.50
June 63:10 PM CDTF0Roseau0.20
June 63:20 PM CDTF0Roseau0.50

June 9 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 94:00 PM CDTF0Otter Tail0.50
June 94:17 PM CDTF0Otter Tail0.50
June 97:10 PM CDTF0Itasca2.050

June 26 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 266:25 PM CDTF0Stearns0.550
June 266:42 PM CDTF0Nicollet3.050

July 8 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 87:20 PM CDTF2Winona3.51002$2.0 million

July 9 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 912:28 PM CDTF0Chisago0.50
July 912:35 PM CDTF0Chisago0.50
July 912:45 PM CDTF0Chisago0.20

July 14 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 141:02 AM CDTF2Marshall2.0150$100,000

July 15 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 153:58 PM CDTF0Lake of the Woods0.50
July 154:04 PM CDTF0Polk0.50

July 25 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 251:40 PM CDTF0Mahnomen0.50
July 252:39 PM CDTF0Becker0.50
July 256:10 PM CDTF0Morrison0.20

July 27 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 277:15 PM CDTF1Chippewa3.020
July 277:59 PM CDTF0Saint Louis0.00

July 30 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 306:03 PM CDTF0Scott0.20
July 306:09 PM CDTF1Scott0.20
July 306:20 PM CDTF0Scott0.130

August 9 10 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 95:55 PM CDTF1Stearns0.30
August 96:34 PM CDTF1Nicollet0.80
August 96:37 PM CDTF1Le Sueur9.050$610,000
August 97:08 PM CDTF0Goodhue0.10
August 97:34 PM CDTF0Rice2.50
August 97:38 PM CDTF0Rice0.80
August 97:46 PM CDTF0Rice1.050
August 98:41 PM CDTF0Faribault0.10
August 98:43 PM CDTF0Dodge1.050
August 98:47 PM CDTF0Faribault0.10

August 12 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 129:13 PM CDTF0Le Sueur1.00
August 129:33 PM CDTF0Dakota0.20

Nearby

Every tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in MinnesotaThe live radar over Minnesota

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.