Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2005

F0 tornado, Haydenville to Bellingham, Minnesota, May 8, 2005

Name: F0 tornado, Haydenville to Bellingham, Minnesota, May 8, 2005
Start: 2005-05-09T00:31:00.000Z
Location: Haydenville to Bellingham, Minnesota

From Haydenville to Bellingham, this F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Lac qui Parle County on May 8, 2005, touching down at 7:31 PM CDT and reaching 25 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.

F040 to 72 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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: F0
Date: May 8, 2005
Touchdown: 7:31 PM CDT (00:31 UTC)
Path length: 0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width: 25 yards (23 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Lac qui Parle County
Touchdown point: 45.080, -96.300
Lift-off point: 45.080, -96.300
Record number: 739

What the Weather Service recorded

A storm chaser videotaped a brief touchdown of a weak tornado in an open field. This tornado was also witnessed by law enforcement.

A storm chaser videotaped a brief touchdown of a weak tornado in an open field.

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

The warnings

4 minutes of warning. NWS MPX issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:27 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)	Expired	Product	Office
23:26 UTC	00:30 UTC	Tornado Warning	MPX
00:27 UTC	01:00 UTC	Tornado Warning	MPX

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:43 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Twin Cities, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 8, 2:15 PM CDT, 5 hours 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 8, 2:15 PM CDT, 5 hours 16 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
215 PM CDT SUN MAY 8 2005

.DISCUSSION...
AWIPS BASED 0-3 KM VGP VALUES EXCEEDING .26 AT 1900Z PUTTING WESTERN
CWA UNDER THE TOR RISK AS PER TOR WATCH 232. 0-6 KM SHEAR CERTAINLY
FAVORING SUPERCELLS OUT WEST... 0-1 KM SHEAR IS QUITE WEAK BUT MAY
INCREASE INTO THE EVENING HOURS. FOCUS FOR CONVECTIVE INITIATION
EXPECTED TO BE WEST AND SOUTHWEST OF OUR CWA...THEN THESE STORMS
SHOULD ROLL ACROSS WESTERN CWA THIS EVENING.

OVER REST OF OUR CWA...850 MB MOIST FLUX DIVERGENCE THIS AFTERNOON
HAS LARGELY SUPPRESSED CONVECTION. THE 850 MB MOIST FLUX DIVERGENCE
REVERSES SIGN TONIGHT AS THE LOW LEVEL JET REDEVELOPS TONIGHT. THIS
SHOULD INTERACT WITH THE ELEVATED INSTABILITY TONIGHT...TO FAVOR
MUCH MORE WIDESPREAD CONVECTION...HOWEVER THE 12Z NAM MODEL
STABILIZES THE ELEVATED CONVECTION OVERNIGHT...SO THINK LIKELY POPS
FOR TONIGHT ARE ENOUGH.

AS UPPER LOW MEANDERS EAST NORTHEASTWARD INTO MN FROM THE DAKOTAS
...FORCING FAVORS MORE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY AND MONDAY
NIGHT...BUT DRIER AIR SHOULD LIMIT PRECIPITATION POTENTIAL MONDAY
NIGHT...ALL BUT FAR NORTHERN CWA. PREVIOUS GRIDS IN AGREEMENT WITH
LATEST GFS AND NAM IN TERMS OF DRYING PATTERN FOR TUESDAY AND
TUESDAY NIGHT. AGAIN THE 12Z NAM/GFS SUPPORT THE NEXT CHANCE FOR
PRECIPITATION WITH THE SHORT WAVE APPROACHING US ON WEDNESDAY.

CHANGES TO THE GRIDS IN THE TEMPERATURE DEPARTMENT WERE TO RAISE
MINS TONIGHT AND MAXES MONDAY BASED ON ADVECTION...AND FOR MONDAY
NIGHT BASED ON TRAJECTORY. LEFT READINGS ALONG BEYOND THAT FOR THE
REST OF THE SHORT TERM...THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

LONGER TERM...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY
LATEST GFS RUN CONTINUES TO SHOW A BLOCKY LOOKING PATTERN ACROSS
NORTH AMERICA DURING THIS PERIOD. INITIALLY...THE PATTERN LOOKS LIKE
A REX BLOCK WITH A TRANSITION TO MORE OF AN OMEGA STRUCTURE BY THE
END OF THE FORECAST PERIOD AS THE SOUTHERN TROUGH SHEARS OUT.  THE
MAIN FEATURE TO FOCUS ON FOR THE MPX CWA IS THE ARRIVAL OF SOUTHWEST
FLOW ALOFT FOR PRECIPITATION TIMING. THE GFS BRINGS IN SOUTHWEST
FLOW LATE WEDNESDAY AND KEEPS THIS INTO SATURDAY MORNING.
HOWEVER...WITH THE TROUGH SHEARING OUT AND DROPPING MEAN RH
VALUES...WE ARE CARRYING PRECIPITATION FROM WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO
FRIDAY AND GOING DRY FOR THE WEEKEND. VERY LITTLE CHANGES MADE TO
TEMPERATURE GRIDS.

&&

.MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
.MN...NONE.
.WI...NONE.

&&

RJN/WET

Hazardous weather outlook, May 8, 6:42 PM CDT, 49 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
642 PM CDT SUN MAY 8 2005

MNZ041-047-048-054>056-064-073-091100-
CHIPPEWA-DOUGLAS-LAC QUI PARLE-POPE-REDWOOD-STEVENS-SWIFT-
YELLOW MEDICINE-
642 PM CDT SUN MAY 8 2005

...TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 9 PM...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND
PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXISTS TONIGHT. SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE DUE TO A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR MASS AND
A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM APPROACHING FROM SOUTH DAKOTA. THE MAIN
THREAT FROM STORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND
TORNADOES.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

THUNDERSTORMS ARE IN THE FORECAST AGAIN FOR WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
BUT ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME...ALTHOUGH
ISOLATED SEVERE HAIL REPORTS WILL BE POSSIBLE.

HEAVY DOWNPOURS COULD ALSO CAUSE LOCALIZED URBAN...STREAM...AND
LOWLAND FLOODING.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TONIGHT.

MNZ044-045-052-053-060>063-069-070-077-078-085-093-WIZ014>016-
023>028-091100-
ANOKA-BARRON-CHIPPEWA-CHISAGO-DAKOTA-DUNN-EAU CLAIRE-FREEBORN-
GOODHUE-HENNEPIN-ISANTI-KANABEC-MILLE LACS-PEPIN-PIERCE-POLK-RAMSEY-
RICE-RUSK-SCOTT-ST CROIX-STEELE-WASHINGTON-
642 PM CDT SUN MAY 8 2005

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL
AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA...AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT AS LOW
PRESSURE OVER THE DAKOTAS PUSHES TOWARD WESTERN MINNESOTA. LARGE HAIL
AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREAT...BUT ISOLATED
TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER IS CONTINUING THE SLIGHT RISK OF
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ON MONDAY. THE LOW PRESSURE TROUGH WILL PASS
OVER THE AREA ON MONDAY...AND THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP MAY BECOME
SEVERE.

THUNDERSTORMS ARE IN THE FORECAST AGAIN FOR WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
BUT ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME...ALTHOUGH
ISOLATED SEVERE HAIL REPORTS WILL BE POSSIBLE.

HEAVY DOWNPOURS COULD ALSO CAUSE LOCALIZED URBAN...STREAM...AND
LOWLAND FLOODING.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TONIGHT.

MNZ042-043-049>051-057>059-065>068-074>076-082>084-091-092-091100-
BENTON-BLUE EARTH-BROWN-CARVER-FARIBAULT-KANDIYOHI-LE SUEUR-MARTIN-
MCLEOD-MEEKER-MORRISON-NICOLLET-RENVILLE-SHERBURNE-SIBLEY-STEARNS-
TODD-WASECA-WATONWAN-WRIGHT-
642 PM CDT SUN MAY 8 2005

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING UNTIL 1 AM THIS MORNING...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL
AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

A RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXISTS TONIGHT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
ARE POSSIBLE DUE TO A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR MASS ALONG WITH A LOW
PRESSURE SYSTEM APPROACHING FROM SOUTH DAKOTA. THE MAIN THREAT FROM
STORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. A FEW TORNADOES CAN NOT
BE RULED OUT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER IS CONTINUING THE SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS ON MONDAY. THE LOW PRESSURE TROUGH WILL PASS OVER
THE AREA ON MONDAY...AND THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP MAY BECOME
SEVERE.

THUNDERSTORMS ARE IN THE FORECAST AGAIN FOR WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
BUT ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME...ALTHOUGH
ISOLATED SEVERE HAIL REPORTS WILL BE POSSIBLE.

HEAVY DOWNPOURS COULD ALSO CAUSE LOCALIZED URBAN...STREAM...AND
LOWLAND FLOODING.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TONIGHT.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 8, 7:08 PM CDT, 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
708 PM CDT SUN MAY 08 2005

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0647 PM     TSTM WND GST     MANKATO                 44.17N 93.99W
05/08/2005  60 MPH           BLUE EARTH         MN   LAW ENFORCEMENT

&&

GJERDINGEN/WEIBELER

Local storm report, May 8, 7:13 PM CDT, 18 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
713 PM CDT SUN MAY 08 2005

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0711 PM     HAIL             5 E NASSAU              45.07N 96.34W
05/08/2005  1.00 INCH        LAC QUI PARLE      MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

AJZ

Local storm report, May 8, 7:14 PM CDT, 17 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
714 PM CDT SUN MAY 08 2005

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0700 PM     HAIL             DAWSON                  44.93N 96.05W
05/08/2005  1.00 INCH        LAC QUI PARLE      MN   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            REPORTED BY DEPUTY

&&

GJERDINGEN/WEIBELER

Local storm report, May 8, 7:17 PM CDT, 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
717 PM CDT SUN MAY 08 2005

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0711 PM     HAIL             NASSAU                  45.07N 96.44W
05/08/2005  1.00 INCH        LAC QUI PARLE      MN   STORM CHASER

            REPORTED BY STORM CHASER

&&

GJERDINGEN/WEIBELER

Local storm report, May 8, 7:20 PM CDT, 11 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
720 PM CDT SUN MAY 08 2005

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0647 PM     TSTM WND GST     NORTH MANKATO           44.18N 94.03W
05/08/2005  60 MPH           NICOLLET           MN   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            SMALL TREES DOWN.

&&

GJERDINGEN/WEIBELER

Local storm report, May 8, 7:25 PM CDT, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
725 PM CDT SUN MAY 08 2005

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0723 PM     HAIL             BELLINGHAM              45.14N 96.28W
05/08/2005  1.50 INCH        LAC QUI PARLE      MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

GJERDINGEN/WEIBELER

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.

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 00:00Z

0.5 hours before the tornado, 166 km from the path. May 9, 2005.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 17 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -121 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 114 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1078 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -160 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 30 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.0
Supercell composite: -0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 12:00Z

11.5 hours after it, 166 km from the path. May 9, 2005.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 84 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -28 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 26 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 594 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 9 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -52 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -50 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 169 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:33 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2005 tornado in Minnesota Every tornado in Minnesota since 1950 Warnings in force in Minnesota now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 8, 2005

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
May 8	4:42 PM CDT	F0	Brown, SD	0.1	25
May 8	5:40 PM CDT	F0	McPherson, KS	0.7	75
May 8	7:20 PM CDT	F0	Lac qui Parle, MN	0.1	20
May 8	7:40 PM CDT	F0	Rice, MN	1.0	25
May 8	8:45 PM CDT	F1	Griggs, ND	0.3	15

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.