Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2005

F2 tornado, Fisher, Minnesota, June 23, 2005

This F2 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Polk County on June 23, 2005, touching down at 5:22 PM CDT and reaching 200 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 mph

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

  3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

    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
F2
Date
June 23, 2005
Touchdown
5:22 PM CDT (22:22 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Polk County
Touchdown point
47.830, -96.920
Lift-off point
47.820, -96.880
Record number
1001

What the Weather Service recorded

Well-built garage walls and a roof were torn off a home. Steel grain bins were ripped off their foundations and thrown through the air. A 36x100 foot hip-roofed barn was torn from its foundation and demolished. Peak winds were estimated at 150 mph.

Two steel grains bins were ripped off their foundations with debris thrown for about a half-mile to the northeast. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.

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

The warnings

22 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:00 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:00 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningFGF
22:59 UTC23:51 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGF
23:23 UTC00:30 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. 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), 12:00Z

10.4 hours before the tornado, 279 km from the path. June 23, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 2005-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2973 joules per kilogram, CIN -80, lifted condensation level 851 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, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 2005-06-23The 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 400 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 68 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
2973 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-80 J/kg
Surface CAPE
686 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
851 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
68 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
400 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
384 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
13.8
0-3 km lapse rate
3.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

1.6 hours after it, 279 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°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, 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

The surface observations

Crookston Municipal (CKN), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:55 UTC89.671.6200° 12 kt997.3
21:15 UTC89.671.6210° 17 kt21996.6
21:35 UTC87.871.6250° 12 kt997.3
21:55 UTC87.871.6250° 9 kt997.6
22:15 UTC84.271.6310° 16 kt22998.6TS
22:55 UTC69.869.8240° 7 kt15999TSRA
23:16 UTC69.86810° 9 kt999.7-VCTSRA
23:35 UTC69.869.80° 0 kt1000.7VCTS
23:55 UTC69.8680° 0 kt999.7
00:15 UTC71.669.80° 0 kt999.7

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

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:24 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
22:32 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 N CrookstonPolk, MNBUILDING BLOWN DOWN NEAR AIRPORT
22:32 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 N CrookstonPolk, MNBUILDING DESTROYED NEAR CROOKSTON AIRPORT
22:32 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 1102 N CrookstonPolk, MNREPORT OF 96 KT GUST AT CROOKSTON AIRPORT. BUILDINGS HEAVLY DAMAGED AT THE AIRPORT.
22:32 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 110CrookstonPolk, MNREPORT OF 96 KT GUST AT CROOKSTON AIRPORT
22:50 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD6 W St. HilairePennington, MN
22:55 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD1 E St. HilairePennington, 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 235:34 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 237:35 PM CDTF1Clearwater, MN5.0100
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.