Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2010

EF1 tornado, Hayfield to Dodge Center Arpt, Minnesota, August 13, 2010

From Hayfield to Dodge Center Arpt, this EF1 tornado ran 4.9 miles across Dodge County on August 13, 2010, touching down at 3:22 PM CDT and reaching 140 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $110,000 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.

  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 mphthis tornado

    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
EF1
Date
August 13, 2010
Touchdown
3:22 PM CDT (20:22 UTC)
Lifted
3:46 PM CDT (20:46 UTC)
On the ground
24 minutes
Path length
4.9 miles (7.8 km)
Path width
140 yards (128 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$110,000
Crop damage
$24,000
County
Dodge County
Touchdown point
43.890, -92.870
Lift-off point
43.960, -92.877
Record number
1008131422-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A surface boundary extended into southeast Minnesota from an area of low pressure over southwest Minnesota on the afternoon of August 13th. Favorable shear and instability existed along this boundary for supercell thunderstorms, which did develop in the early afternoon hours. These thunderstorms produced tornadoes, along with severe thunderstorm winds, large hail and flooding.

The tornado damage path began just south of State Highway 30 west of Hayfield. The tornado did move off to the northeast nearing State Highway 56 before taking a north northwest track until it lifted just south of County Road 6. Damage was noted to soybean and corn fields, numerous trees and limbs were snapped and uprooted, roofing damage occurred to a metal barn/shed, while an old barn was lifted off of its foundation for a complete loss. Also, a local residence had some small beams knocked out from underneath a porch on the front of the house.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:44 UTC and running to 21:24 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
06:20 UTC10:33 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchARX
07:40 UTC08:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningARX
10:33 UTC18:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchARX
12:00 UTC03:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchARX
19:44 UTC21:24 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchARX
20:17 UTC21:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningARX
20:34 UTC21:00 UTCTornado WarningARX
20:53 UTC21:30 UTCTornado WarningARX
21:25 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WatchARX
21:44 UTC23:55 UTCFlash Flood WarningARX
21:45 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningARX

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:58 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.

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), 12:00Z

8.4 hours before the tornado, 118 km from the path. August 13, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 2010-08-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 112 joules per kilogram, CIN -488, lifted condensation level 959 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 2010-08-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 177 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
112 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-488 J/kg
Surface CAPE
50 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
959 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
177 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
206 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
3.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), 00:00Z

3.6 hours after it, 118 km from the path. August 14, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 2010-08-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1194 joules per kilogram, CIN -80, lifted condensation level 963 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 2010-08-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 56 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1194 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-80 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1155 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
963 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
101 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
2.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:23 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
18:17 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD1 S Steele CenterSteele, MNFROM ROCHESTER PATROL BRIEF FUNNEL BETWEEN MM35 AND 36
20:22 UTCTORNADO 11 W HayfieldDodge, MNAN EF-1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 1 MILE WEST OF HAYFIELD ALONG HIGHWAY 30. THIS TORNADO THEN TRACKED FOR 5 MILES TO THE NORTH JUST TO THE WEST OF HIGHWAY 56 AND ENDED SOUTH OF COUNTY ROAD 6. THE MAXIMUM WIDTH WAS 140 YARDS A
20:29 UTCTORNADO4 Ne HayfieldDodge, MNSEEN BY STORM CHASER AND FIRE DEPARTMENT
20:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 58Dodge CenterDodge, MN
20:37 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD5 Sw RochesterOlmsted, MNSEEING TORNADO
20:50 UTCHAIL 0.753 Se KassonDodge, MN
20:55 UTCTORNADO6 S KassonDodge, MN
21:40 UTCTORNADO4 Sw RochesterOlmsted, MNWEAK TOUCHDOWN ON COUNTY ROAD 15 AT 60TH STREET SW NEAR WILDLIFE REFUGE
21:50 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD7 Wnw StewartvilleOlmsted, MNREPORTED NEAR DODGE COUNTY LINE BY SPOTTERS AND HAM RADIO OPERATORS
22:25 UTCFLOODZumbrotaGoodhue, MNLOCALIZED FLOODING IN COVERED BRIDGE PARK IN TOWN ON N FORK OF ZUMBRO RIVER...STARTED AROUND 9 AM.
22:40 UTCTORNADORock DellOlmsted, MNBRIEF TOUCHDOWNS
23:05 UTCTSTM WND GST 55DoverOlmsted, MN
23:21 UTCFLOODRochesterOlmsted, MNWATER INTO CARS AT APACHE MALL
23:21 UTCHAIL 16 Se RochesterOlmsted, MNAT INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 52 AND INTERSTATE 90

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 13, 2010

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 133:04 AM CDTEF1Dakota, MN1.51251$750,000
August 135:35 PM CDTEF0Blue Earth, MN0.125
August 135:40 PM CDTEF0Olmsted, MN0.025

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.