Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2005

F1 tornado, Leonard to Puposky, Minnesota, June 23, 2005

From Leonard to Puposky, this F1 tornado ran 5.0 miles across Clearwater and Beltrami counties on June 23, 2005, touching down at 7:35 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
June 23, 2005
Touchdown
7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)
Path length
5.0 miles (8.0 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Counties
Clearwater and Beltrami counties
Touchdown point
47.670, -95.200
Lift-off point
47.680, -95.070
Record number
1007

What the Weather Service recorded

The tornado knocked down numerous trees along county road 24. Estimated peak winds were 90 mph. The tornado continued into Beltrami county.

The tornado originated 3 miles east-northeast of Leonard in Clearwater county. Many large trees were knocked over along county road 24. Estimated peak wind speeds were 90 mph.

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

The warnings

7 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:28 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:23 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningFGF
00:28 UTC01:30 UTCTornado WarningFGF

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 22:45 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

International Fa, MN (KINL), 00:00Z

0.6 hours before the tornado, 169 km from the path. June 24, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, International Fa, MN at 00:00Z on 2005-06-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3125 joules per kilogram, CIN -99, lifted condensation level 1532 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, International Fa, MN at 00:00Z on 2005-06-24The 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 196 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 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
3125 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-99 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4550 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1532 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
196 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
234 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.1
Supercell composite
11.8
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

International Fa, MN (KINL), 12:00Z

11.4 hours after it, 169 km from the path. June 24, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 2005-06-24Temperature 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 -81373, lifted condensation level 1092 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 2005-06-24The 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 -86 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-81373 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1092 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
12 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 165 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:36 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
23:20 UTCTORNADO2 E FosstonPolk, MN

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 23, 2005

18 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 232:58 PM CDTF0Benson, ND2.050
June 232:58 PM CDTF0Eddy, ND2.050
June 232:18 PM MDTF0Duchesne, UT0.50
June 234:28 PM EDTF0Pinellas, FL0.540
June 233:40 PM CDTF1Pembina, ND4.0100
June 233:45 PM CDTF0Cavalier, ND0.225
June 234:14 PM CDTF1Walsh, ND2.5100
June 234:18 PM CDTF0Pembina, ND2.050
June 234:22 PM CDTF2Kittson, MN1.0200
June 235:15 PM CDTF1Lake of the Woods, MN5.0100
June 235:22 PM CDTF2Polk, MN2.0200
June 235:34 PM CDTF2Polk, MN1.5200
June 235:44 PM CDTF0Polk, MN0.250
June 235:48 PM CDTF1Polk, MN5.0100
June 236:20 PM CDTF0Polk, MN0.250
June 236:10 PM MDTF0Navajo, AZ1.050
June 237:25 PM CDTF1Clay, MN2.0100
June 238:20 PM CDTF1Beltrami, MN2.0100

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.