Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota

2008 tornadoes in Minnesota

43 tornadoes touched down in Minnesota in 2008, 49 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 1 people and injured 24.

2007 2009 The whole country in 2008

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 mph
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.

Every tornado in Minnesota in 2008

May 25 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 25	4:35 PM CDT	EF1	Anoka	6.0	100		2	$700,000
May 25	4:55 PM CDT	EF3	Anoka	6.0	220	1	17	$25 million
May 25	5:10 PM CDT	EF0	Washington	1.0	50
May 25	5:15 PM CDT	EF0	Washington to WI	1.3	50			$300,000
May 25	5:48 PM CDT	EF0	Cass	4.0	25

May 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 30	3:37 PM CDT	EF0	Stevens	0.1	20

June 6 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 6	9:14 AM CDT	EF2	Wadena	14.1	450	2	$10 million
June 6	9:37 AM CDT	EF3	Hubbard	7.3	400
June 6	9:42 AM CDT	EF0	Hubbard	5.9	75		$100,000
June 6	9:55 AM CDT	EF1	Hubbard	2.4	150		$400,000
June 6	10:43 AM CDT	EF1	Hubbard	0.6	30		$200,000

June 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 7	4:50 PM CDT	EF0	Houston	0.1	25

June 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 9	1:44 PM CDT	EF1	Norman	0.3	40			$40,000

June 11 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 11	5:46 PM CDT	EF1	Nobles	3.8	100		$70,000
June 11	6:05 PM CDT	EF1	Murray	2.7	100	1	$100,000
June 11	6:45 PM CDT	EF0	Cottonwood	2.0	50		$5,000
June 11	7:20 PM CDT	EF1	Brown	0.6	25		$300,000
June 11	7:46 PM CDT	EF0	Brown	0.4	25		$100,000
June 11	7:52 PM CDT	EF1	Brown	2.0	25		$100,000
June 11	9:06 PM CDT	EF0	Sibley	0.3	25

June 12 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 12	6:40 PM CDT	EF0	Becker	1.8	25	$100,000
June 12	7:14 PM CDT	EF1	Hubbard	1.5	50	$300,000
June 12	8:44 PM CDT	EF1	Becker	3.1	100	$200,000
June 12	8:50 PM CDT	EF1	Hubbard	5.4	100	$500,000

June 14 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 14	5:55 PM CDT	EF1	Wilkin	2.1	50			$150,000
June 14	6:15 PM CDT	EF1	Otter Tail	2.6	50			$100,000

July 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 6	3:17 PM CDT	EF0	Nobles	0.3	50

July 10 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 10	1:15 PM CDT	EF0	Dakota	6.0	25
July 10	1:40 PM CDT	EF0	Goodhue	1.0	20

July 11 9 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
July 11	3:25 PM CDT	EF0	Marshall	0.2	25
July 11	3:45 PM CDT	EF0	Mahnomen	2.0	25		$5,000
July 11	3:55 PM CDT	EF0	Otter Tail	0.2	25		$5,000
July 11	4:00 PM CDT	EF2	Mahnomen	16.0	250		$500,000
July 11	4:12 PM CDT	EF0	Becker	10.0	75		$5,000
July 11	4:15 PM CDT	EF1	Otter Tail	2.0	100		$200,000
July 11	4:43 PM CDT	EF1	Otter Tail	1.0	50		$40,000
July 11	6:26 PM CDT	EF3	Kandiyohi	8.0	200	2
July 11	7:25 PM CDT	EF0	Meeker	3.0	25		$200,000

July 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 14	9:45 PM CDT	EF0	Beltrami	0.2	25

July 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 16	9:00 PM CDT	EF0	Marshall	1.0	50			$10,000

July 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 17	11:55 AM CDT	EF0	Blue Earth	0.0	20

July 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 19	2:07 PM CDT	EF0	Sherburne	4.3	100

July 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 24	6:20 PM CDT	EF0	Mahnomen	1.0	25

Crossed into Minnesota

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Minnesota. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 16	8:32 PM CDT	EF1	Pembina, ND to MN	4.0	75			$14,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Minnesota since 1950 Warnings in force in Minnesota The 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.