Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2007
EF1 tornado, Greenbush to Fox, Minnesota, June 24, 2007
From Greenbush to Fox, this EF1 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Roseau County on June 24, 2007, touching down at 8:53 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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
- EF1
- Date
- June 24, 2007
- Touchdown
- 8:53 PM CDT (01:53 UTC)
- Lifted
- 9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)
- On the ground
- 7 minutes
- Path length
- 3.0 miles (4.8 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Roseau County
- Touchdown point
- 48.801, -96.180
- Lift-off point
- 48.802, -96.101
- Record number
- 0706241953-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Warm temperatures just above the surface layer kept this thunderstorm event restricted to the area right along the border between northwest Minnesota and Canada. Early in the evening of the 24th, a cold front was located from Hallock, Minnesota, to near Bismarck, North Dakota. Over the next couple of hours, the front sagged a bit south, toward a Baudette, MN, to Grafton, ND, line. Thunderstorms initially developed over Kittson and Roseau Counties, but moved into southern Manitoba and southwest Ontario, Canada.
Power poles and lines were downed and several trees were snapped off along this route. The damage indicated peak winds of 90 to 95 mph.
A brief tornado touchdown occurred near Fox. No significant damage was detected.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
13 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:40 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:45 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01:28 UTC | 01:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF |
| 01:40 UTC | 02:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | FGF |
| 02:44 UTC | 03:35 UTC | Tornado Warning | FGF |
| 17:21 UTC | 18:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | FGF |
| 17:41 UTC | 18:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | FGF |
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 01:01 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
1.9 hours before the tornado, 210 km from the path. June 25, 2007.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1357 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -120 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2517 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1725 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 11 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 64 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 84 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 7.8 K/km
International Fa, MN (KINL), 12:00Z
10.1 hours after it, 210 km from the path. June 25, 2007.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 860 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -205 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 146 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1114 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 6 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 1 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 62 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.8 K/km
The surface observations
Roseau Municipal (ROX), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:55 UTC | 84.2 | 77 | 230° 5 kt | 1009.5 | ||
| 00:15 UTC | 84.2 | 77 | 220° 4 kt | 1009.5 | ||
| 00:35 UTC | 84.2 | 77 | 0° 0 kt | 1009.1 | ||
| 00:55 UTC | 84.2 | 78.8 | 0° 0 kt | 1009.1 | ||
| 01:15 UTC | 84.2 | 78.8 | 0° 0 kt | 1009.1 | ||
| 01:35 UTC | 80.6 | 77 | 100° 4 kt | 1008.5 | VCTS | |
| 01:55 UTC | 80.6 | 77 | 0° 0 kt | 1009.1 | TS | |
| 02:15 UTC | 80.6 | 77 | 220° 6 kt | 1010.8 | -TSRA | |
| 02:35 UTC | 73.4 | 71.6 | 160° 9 kt | 1009.1 | +TSRA | |
| 02:55 UTC | 71.6 | 69.8 | 310° 27 kt | 35 | 1010.5 | -TSRA |
| 03:15 UTC | 66.2 | 64.4 | 160° 3 kt | 8 | 1010.2 | TS |
| 03:35 UTC | 71.6 | 68 | 150° 4 kt | 1010.5 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01:40 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 5 Ssw Caribou | Kittson, MN | |
| 01:53 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 1 Sse Haug | Roseau, MN | TORNADO TOUCHDOWN REPORTED AROUND 7 MILES NORTH OF GREENBUSH...OR 1 SSE OF HAUG. TORNADO TRACKED FOR ABOUT 3 MILES TO AROUND 4 WNW OF BADGER BY 9 PM CDT. POWER POLES AND LINES WERE TAKEN DOWN AND SEVERAL TREES WERE SNAPP |
| 01:54 UTC | TORNADO | 7 N Greenbush | Roseau, MN | TONRADO REPORTED 4-7 MILES N OF GREENBUSH. LATER REPORT RECEIVED CONFIRMED TORNADO WAS 7 MILES NORTH OF GREENBUSH. |
| 01:59 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Nne Greenbush | Roseau, MN | TORNADO REPORTED ON GROUND MOVING TO THE EAST-SOUTHEAST. TORNADO WAS DISSIPATING AT TIME OF CALL. |
| 02:26 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 7 W Roseau | Roseau, MN | HAM RADIO RELAYED REPORT FROM LOCAL RADIO STATION OF A BRIEF TORNADO NEAR FOX OR 7 MILES WEST OF ROSEAU. NO SIGNIFCANT DAMAGE WAS DETECTED. |
| 02:26 UTC | TORNADO | 7 W Roseau | Roseau, MN | HAM RADIO RELAYED REPORT FROM LOCAL RADIO STATION OF A TORNADO NEAR FOX OR 7 MILES WEST OF ROSEAU. |
| 02:59 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 5 Ene Salol | Roseau, MN | BRIEF TOUCHDOWN REPORTED NEAR THE TIMBERLINE TRAILER COURT ON HWY 11. A FEW LARGE TREE BRANCHES WERE BROKEN OFF. DAMAGE INDICATED PEAK WINDS AROUND 70 MPH. |
| 03:07 UTC | HAIL 1 | 7 W Warroad | Roseau, MN | WALL CLOUD ALSO REPORTED. |
| 03:16 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 9 W Warroad | Roseau, MN | DIME TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL REPORTED. |
| 03:21 UTC | HAIL 1 | 6 W Warroad | Roseau, MN |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 24, 2007
4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.