EF2 tornado, Ramsey to Austin, Minnesota, June 17, 2009

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 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. 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.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. 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.

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.

Rating

EF2

Date

June 17, 2009

Touchdown

8:00 PM CDT (01:00 UTC)

Lifted

8:23 PM CDT (01:23 UTC)

On the ground

23 minutes

Path length

9.6 miles (15.4 km)

Path width

120 yards (110 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$2.0 million

Crop damage

$30,000

County

Mower County

Touchdown point

43.723, -93.030

Lift-off point

43.642, -92.906

Record number

0906171900-01

Severe thunderstorms were triggered along a warm front during the evening of June 17. One of the storms produced two known tornadoes, one that initially touched down near the Dodge and Mower County line, northwest of the city of Austin. The tornado then moved through far north sections of Austin to areas about 3 miles east of Austin. The worst tornado damage was considered EF2 about 3 miles north of downtown near the intersection of 243rd and 4th street northwest. The bulk of the remaining damage was considered EF0 and EF1. The tornado was on the ground from approximately 8:00 p.m. until 8:23 p.m. Path length was about 10 miles long and had a maximum width of 120 yards. Another small tornado touched down southeast of this track in open country in rural Mower County.

A tornado caused damage on the north and northeast side of the city of Austin. Specific reports included minor tree damage, as well as debris blown into fences and bent poles on the northwest side of Austin. Several power poles were snapped off or bent along Highway 218 on the north side of the city. Several metal work buildings were heavily damaged along 243rd St, along with numerous trees and some minor roof damage to nearby homes. Large debris, such as metal dumpsters, were tossed large distances. There was straight-line wind damage noted south of the tornado path, or along Highway 218 and 4th St NW. Several homes had minor damage, with numerous trees blown over or sheared off along 236th and 237th Street directly north of downtown Austin. There was considerable damage done in Todd Park, including athletic equipment, small buildings and hundreds of trees toppled and uprooted. The north side of the park, including the northern softball fields had the most damage. There was also considerable tree damage along 21st St NE or 555th Ave, which continued into the Austin Country Club. Minor damage was noted about a half mile east of the Austin airport and about 2 miles southeast of the airport. One minor injury was reported when a man sustained scrapes and bruises when he took shelter in a shed that rolled over twice.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS ARX issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:35 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:02 UTC and running to 04:55 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:02 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 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.

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:58 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.