Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2009

EF0 tornado, Carlisle to Elizabeth, Minnesota, June 18, 2009

From Carlisle to Elizabeth, this EF0 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Otter Tail County on June 18, 2009, touching down at 6:50 PM CDT and reaching 75 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    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 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
June 18, 2009
Touchdown
6:50 PM CDT (23:50 UTC)
Lifted
6:57 PM CDT (23:57 UTC)
On the ground
7 minutes
Path length
3.0 miles (4.8 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Otter Tail County
Touchdown point
46.380, -96.190
Lift-off point
46.390, -96.145
Record number
0906181750-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Eastern North Dakota remained in a very weak surface pattern on the 18th, with numerous weak surface lows and boundaries across the midwest. Like the past several days, moisture levels remained very high, with surface dew points in the low to mid 60s. Some morning cloud cover along the North Dakota/South Dakota border lifted north by afternoon, and allowed a period of good heating. Although the upper level winds were fairly light, another in a series of upper level disturbances shifted over the area by mid afternoon. This helped initiate thunderstorm development over southeast North Dakota and west central Minnesota. A cluster of thunderstorms also developed over extreme northeast North Dakota. By late afternoon, a line of thunderstorms raced across the Mooreton (ND) area, through Wahpeton/Breckenridge, and into the Fergus Falls (MN) area. This line of storms brought many reports of strong winds. The weak wind flow and moist atmosphere once again brought heavy rainfall to areas along the Canadian border and areas along and south of Interstate 94.

Peak winds were estimated at 80 mph.

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 18, 2:34 PM CDT, 4 hours 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 18, 2:34 PM CDT, 4 hours 16 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
234 PM CDT THU JUN 18 2009

.SHORT TERM...
MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGE FOR TONIGHT WILL BE SEVERE WEATHER
POTENTIAL. MODELS IN AGREEMENT ON THE LARGE SCALE DETAILS...
BUT DIFFER IN THE SMALL SCALE QPF AMOUNT/PLACEMENT DETAILS. PREFER
THE GFS QPF SCENARIO AND WILL FOLLOW IT FOR THE MOST PART.

TONIGHT...VERY COMPLEX SFC PATTERN OUT THERE THIS AFTERNOON DUE
TO THE VERY WEAK SFC FLOW. COMPUTER ANALYSIS SHOWS MANY DIFFERENT
WEAK SFC LOWS ACROSS THE ENTIRE TRI STATE REGION. ONE OF THESE IS
OVER FAR SOUTHEAST ND WHERE TEMPS ARE FINALLY RECOVERING AFTER THE
CLOUDY/COOLER START. CLEAR HOLE OVER NORTHEAST SD HAS EXPANDED
FURTHER NORTH AND HAS ALLOWED GOOD HEATING NOW OVER SOUTHEAST
ND/WEST CENTRAL MN. ONE TSTM CELL FIRED UP NEAR KAXN...BUT NOT
MUCH ELSE IN THIS AREA YET. OTHER CELLS ARE FLARING UP IN THE
NORTHERN FA...AND ARE APPROACHING THE SOUTHWEST FA. MAIN VORT THAT
WE WERE WATCHING THIS MORNING IS NOW MOVING INTO THE CENTRAL
DAKOTAS. THIS HAS HELPED SUSTAIN THE TSTM ACTIVITY AROUND AND
SOUTH OF KBIS. FOR TONIGHT...FOLLOWING THE GFS...WOULD FAVOR A
CORRIDOR WITH BETTER PCPN CHANCES FROM POSSIBLY KJMS TO KTVF.
TRAINING CELLS OVER THE SAME AREA WILL ALSO HAVE TO BE MONITORED.
IF THE ABOVE PCPN CORRIDOR IS CORRECT...THE FAR SOUTHERN VALLEY
SHOULD STAY OUT OF THE HEAVIER RAINS. OUTSIDE OF THE ABERCROMBIE
ND/KENT MN AREAS...FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE IS PRETTY HIGH. THEREFORE
IT WILL TAKE TRAINING TSTMS OR VERY SLOW MOVING TSTMS TO CAUSE
FLASH FLOODING. OTHERWISE HAIL AND AN ISOLATED TORNADO ARE
POSSIBLE. LCL HEIGHTS ARE VERY LOW ALONG WITH VGP VALUES AROUND
0.2.

FRI-SUN...LOOKS LIKE THERE COULD BE ANOTHER ROUND OF SHOWERS/TSTMS
ON FRIDAY...ESPECIALLY BY AFTERNOON. ANOTHER 500MB SHORT WAVE WILL
ROTATE THROUGH THE REGION AND WILL BE THE FOCUS ONCE AGAIN.
HEIGHTS BEGIN TO RISE BY SAT WHICH SHOULD GIVE THE AREA A
TEMPORARY BREAK FROM THE SHOWER/TSTM CHANCES. SUNDAY IS STILL A
BIT UP IN THE AIR...WITH THE ECMWF SHOWING IT WET ONCE AGAIN IN
SOUTHWEST FLOW. 12Z GFS IS A BIT SLOWER BRINGING BACK IN PCPN...
SO DO NOT HAVE MUCH CONFIDENCE IN EITHER SOLUTION. WILL THEREFORE
PLAY THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD FOR NOW AND MATCH SURROUNDING OFFICES
WITH A LOW CHANCE.

.LONG TERM...MODELS REMAIN IN DECENT AGREEMENT. SW FLOW
ALOFT THROUGH THE PERIOD. THIS PATTERN WOULD SUGGEST MULTIPLE
CHANCES FOR THUNDER AS WAVES EJECT FROM MAIN W COAST TROUGH. TIMING
OF BEST THUNDER CHANCES ALWAYS A PROBLEM THIS FAR OUT AND WILL NOT
GO HIGHER THAN 30 POPS AT THIS POINT. TEMPERATURES AT OR ABOVE
NORMAL GIVEN THE EXPECTED SYNOPTIC PATTERN.

&&

.AVIATION...THUNDER CHANCES WILL BE THE MAIN CHALLENGE AND HAZARD
FOR THIS PERIOD. APPEARS BEST CHANCES WILL BE FROM A JAMESTOWN TO
GRAND FORKS TO BAUDETTE LINE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING (KGFK AND
KTVF TAF SITES). THUNDER/SHOWER CHANCES STILL EXIST AT OTHER
SITES...BUT PROBABILITIES TOO LOW FOR MENTION IN FORECAST. MVFR
CIGS/VSBY POSSIBLE WITH ANY HEAVIER STORM.

&&

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

GODON/TG
Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 18, 4:57 AM CDT, 13 hours 53 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
457 AM CDT THU JUN 18 2009

MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-191000-
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-
457 AM CDT THU JUN 18 2009

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

THUNDERSTORMS CONTAINING HEAVY RAIN ARE POSSIBLE IN SOUTHEAST
NORTH DAKOTA INTO WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA TODAY AND TONIGHT.
ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN MAY AGGRAVATE ONGOING FLOODING ALONG THE
WILD RICE RIVER AT ABERCROMBIE...THE RED RIVER AT FARGO...AND THE
SOUTH BRANCH BUFFALO RIVER AT SABIN. THERE IS ALSO A SLIGHT RISK
FOR SEVERE STORMS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT...WITH LARGE HAIL
THE MAIN THREAT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ONCE AGAIN
FRIDAY. THE PRIMARY THREATS WILL BE HEAVY RAIN AND SMALL HAIL.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY AND TONIGHT.

ROGERS/DK

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 18, 6:06 PM CDT, 44 minutes before
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Local storm report, Jun 18, 6:08 PM CDT, 42 minutes before
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Local storm report, Jun 18, 6:10 PM CDT, 40 minutes before
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Local storm report, Jun 18, 6:11 PM CDT, 39 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
611 PM CDT THU JUN 18 2009

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

0545 PM     TSTM WND DMG     WYNDMERE                46.26N 97.13W
06/18/2009                   RICHLAND           ND   PUBLIC

            UPROOTED TREES

&&

JH
Local storm report, Jun 18, 6:15 PM CDT, 35 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
615 PM CDT THU JUN 18 2009

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

0452 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     5 SW COLFAX             46.42N 96.95W
06/18/2009                   RICHLAND           ND   TRAINED SPOTTER

            2 FUNNELS OBSERVED

&&

JH
Local storm report, Jun 18, 6:49 PM CDT, 1 minute before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
649 PM CDT THU JUN 18 2009

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

0545 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     10 S WARROAD            48.76N 95.32W
06/18/2009                   ROSEAU             MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            FUNNEL CLOUD

&&

JH

The surface observations

Fergus Falls (FFM), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (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), 154 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:48 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 trackEvery 2009 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 18, 2009

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 186:04 PM CDTEF1Richland, ND7.0300
June 187:15 PM CDTEF1Otter Tail, MN1.0150
June 189:11 PM CDTEF0Lake, SD0.150
June 1811:27 PM CDTEF0Iowa, WI0.550

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.