Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2008

EF1 tornado, Dorset to Lake George, Minnesota, June 6, 2008

Name: EF1 tornado, Dorset to Lake George, Minnesota, June 6, 2008
Start: 2008-06-06T14:55:00.000Z
End: 2008-06-06T15:03:00.000Z
Location: Dorset to Lake George, Minnesota

From Dorset to Lake George, this EF1 tornado ran 2.4 miles across Hubbard County on June 6, 2008, touching down at 9:55 AM CDT and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $400,000 of property damage.

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 6, 2008
Touchdown: 9:55 AM CDT (14:55 UTC)
Lifted: 10:03 AM CDT (15:03 UTC)
On the ground: 8 minutes
Path length: 2.4 miles (3.9 km)
Path width: 150 yards (137 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $400,000
County: Hubbard County
Touchdown point: 47.160, -94.990
Lift-off point: 47.194, -94.980
Record number: 0806060855-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A vertically stacked cold-core low pressure system moved into the Red River Valley and brought ideal conditions for low topped mini supercells. A negatively tilted 500 mb trough, diffluent height field, and a strong upper level disturbance were all present. At the surface, there was even a warm front east of the low, toward Hubbard and Wadena Counties.

This tornado resulted from a storm split near Big Sand Lake and tracked to the northeast for nearly 5 miles. It had several brief touchdowns before it lifted about 5 miles east-southeast of Emmaville and east of Mantrap Lake by 951 am CDT. No significant damage was reported or detected by aerial survey, though some tree branch damage was noted. Estimated maximum width was 75 yards with peak winds estimated to 80 mph.

A tornado tracked to the north-northeast for nearly 3 miles and lifted about 1 mile east-southeast of Lake George by 1003 am CDT. Numerous large trees were knocked down or uprooted across Schoolcraft Lake Road and along county road 4. Peak wind speeds were estimated at 105 mph with a maximum width of 150 yards.

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

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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jun 6, 3:26 AM CDT, 6 hours 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 6, 3:26 AM CDT, 6 hours 29 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
326 AM CDT FRI JUN 6 2008

.DISCUSSION...
THE MAIN CHALLENGE WILL BE DEEP LOW PRESSURE THAT WILL MOVE
THROUGH THE REGION TODAY AND RESULTING WEATHER. SFC LOW IS
CURRENTLY NEAR HON IN SD...WITH THE BEST PRESSURE FALLS JUST WEST
OF FARGO. A BAND OF ELEVATED STORMS IS TRYING TO DEVELOP IN THE
FAR SOUTH...MOVING QUICKLY NORTH WITH UPPER JET MOVING INTO
SOUTHERN ND. MODELS ARE ONCE AGAIN IN GOOD AGREEMENT...AND LIKE
THE NAM SLIGHTLY SLOWER SOLUTION ONCE AGAIN...ALTHOUGH THE RUC
INSTABILITY FIELDS WILL BE USED IN THE NEAR TERM. NO MODEL HAS
HANDLED QPF WELL...WITH A LARGE MCS IN IOWA ROBBING MUCH OF OUR
MOISTURE SO FAR.

FOR TODAY...WILL CANCEL ALL FLASH FLOOD HEADLINES...AS IT APPEARS
THAT THE FLOODING THREAT IS OVER. LOW WILL TRACK TO NEAR FARGO
AROUND 15Z...THEN OVER BDE AROUND 00Z. THERE WILL BE DEEP SYNOPTIC
LIFT PER OMEGA/QG FIELDS...AND PLENTY OF AVAILABLE MOISTURE WITH
PWATS OVER 1.4 INCHES. STRONG DEFORMATION/FGEN FIELDS ON THE
BACKSIDE OF LOW...ALONG WITH THE 500MB LOW WILL AID SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE DAY. THE BEST CHANCE FOR PRECIP WILL BE
TO THE NORTH AND WEST OF EXPECTED LOW TRACK. TEMPS WILL ONCE AGAIN
REMAIN WELL BELOW NORMAL. WINDS MAY APPROACH ADVISORY LEVELS THIS
AFTERNOON...MAINLY IN THE SOUTH. FOR NOW WILL HOLD ON AN ADVISORY
BUT ADVISE THE DAY CREW OF POTENTIAL.

BY TONIGHT...SOME SHOWERS MAY LINGER IN THE NORTH BEFORE LOW
DEPARTS INTO CANADA. FOG MAY BE A CONCERN IF ENOUGH CLEARING
OCCURS AND IF WE CAN DECOUPLE...AND LATER SHIFTS WILL NEED TO
MONITOR THIS POTENTIAL WITH PLENTY OF BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE.

ON SAT...A DRY DAY IS EXPECTED WITH DEEP MOISTURE SWEEPING EAST.
MORE SUNSHINE IS ALSO EXPECTED AND TEMPS WILL STILL REMAIN BELOW
NORMAL WITH FAIRLY COOL TEMPS ALOFT AND LOW CONVECTIVE TEMPS.

FOR SUNDAY...AN UPPER LOW IS PROGGED TO BRUSH NORTHERN AREAS...AND
THERE ARE SOME TIMING DIFFERENCES. THE GFS HAS BEEN MOST BULLISH
WITH COLD AIR ALOFT AND LI/S TO -2C...SO ISOLATED THUNDER APPEARS
REASONABLE FOR ALL AREAS.

FOR MON-THU...TIMING OF CONVECTIVE CHANCES REMAINS THE BIGGEST
CONCERNS. THE BEST CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS APPEARS TO BE AROUND
MID WEEK...WHEN THE GULF OPENS AND ANOTHER VIGOROUS SHORTWAVE AND
ASSOCIATED SFC LOW MOVE INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS.

&&

.AVIATION...
MVFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED FOR THE MOST PART NEAR ANY SHOWERS AND
STORMS. WINDS WILL SHIFT THE WEST AND INCREASE THIS AFTERNOON AND
POSSIBLY GUST TO 30KT LATE TODAY INTO THIS EVENING.

&&

.FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ND...NONE.
MN...NONE.
&&

DK

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 6, 4:49 AM CDT, 5 hours 6 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
449 AM CDT FRI JUN 6 2008

MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-071000-
WEST POLK-NORMAN-CLAY-KITTSON-ROSEAU-LAKE OF THE WOODS-
WEST MARSHALL-EAST MARSHALL-NORTH BELTRAMI-PENNINGTON-RED LAKE-
EAST POLK-NORTH CLEARWATER-SOUTH BELTRAMI-MAHNOMEN-
SOUTH CLEARWATER-HUBBARD-WEST BECKER-EAST BECKER-WILKIN-
WEST OTTER TAIL-EAST OTTER TAIL-WADENA-GRANT-TOWNER-CAVALIER-
PEMBINA-BENSON-RAMSEY-EASTERN WALSH COUNTY-EDDY-NELSON-
GRAND FORKS-GRIGGS-STEELE-TRAILL-BARNES-CASS-RANSOM-SARGENT-
RICHLAND-WESTERN WALSH COUNTY-
449 AM CDT FRI JUN 6 2008

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH
DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TODAY ACROSS ALL OF EASTERN
NORTH DAKOTA AND WESTERN MINNESOTA. SOME STORMS MAY CONTAIN HEAVY
RAIN AND PEA SIZE HAIL...BUT SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED
TODAY.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

PERIODIC CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE SUNDAY THROUGH
THURSDAY...AS A FAIRLY ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN CONTINUES FOR THE
NORTHERN PLAINS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

DK

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 6, 9:44 AM CDT, 11 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jun 6, 9:45 AM CDT, 10 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jun 6, 9:53 AM CDT, 2 minutes before

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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

2.9 hours before the tornado, 199 km from the path. June 6, 2008.

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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 456 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 442 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 514 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1
0-3 km lapse rate: 3.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Park Rapids (PKD), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 181 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:56 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 2008 tornado in Minnesota Every tornado in Minnesota since 1950 Warnings in force in Minnesota now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 6, 2008

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 6	9:14 AM CDT	EF2	Wadena, MN	14.1	450	2	$10 million
June 6	9:37 AM CDT	EF3	Hubbard, MN	7.3	400
June 6	9:42 AM CDT	EF0	Hubbard, MN	5.9	75		$100,000
June 6	10:43 AM CDT	EF1	Hubbard, MN	0.6	30		$200,000
June 6	2:58 PM CDT	EF0	Racine, WI	3.4	50		$20,000
June 6	3:47 PM CDT	EF0	Cherokee, OK	0.1	75
June 6	4:55 PM EDT	EF0	Ogemaw, MI	1.1	100		$75,000
June 6	4:20 PM CDT	EF1	Coles, IL	5.0	200		$275,000
June 6	8:44 PM EDT	EF0	Van Wert, OH	0.5	100		$5,000

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.