Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2010

EF1 tornado, Brandon to Garfield, Minnesota, July 22, 2010

From Brandon to Garfield, this EF1 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Douglas County on July 22, 2010, touching down at 8:05 PM CDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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
July 22, 2010
Touchdown
8:05 PM CDT (01:05 UTC)
Lifted
8:07 PM CDT (01:07 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.6 miles (0.9 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Douglas County
Touchdown point
45.906, -95.592
Lift-off point
45.906, -95.580
Record number
1007221905-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A line of severe thunderstorms developed across northwest Minnesota during the afternoon of Thursday July 22nd. These storms moved southeast into central Minnesota by the evening. One of the storms produce a brief tornado west of Alexandria.

A barn, three sheds, two grain bins, and a rabbit hutch were destroyed.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
01:13 UTC01:45 UTCTornado WarningMPX

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 General Thunderstorms Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 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), 00:00Z

1.1 hours before the tornado, 195 km from the path. July 23, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 2010-07-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 684 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2010-07-23The 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 31 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 42 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
28 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
684 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
31 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
108 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), 12:00Z

10.9 hours after it, 195 km from the path. July 23, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 2010-07-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 206 joules per kilogram, CIN -129, lifted condensation level 730 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2010-07-23The 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 28 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
206 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-129 J/kg
Surface CAPE
38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
730 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
81 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Alexandria (AXN), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:53 UTC7969190° 11 kt1006.4
00:53 UTC7669140° 7 kt1005.8
01:03 UTC75.269.8140° 9 kt1005.8TS
01:26 UTC71.66820° 24 kt321005.8TSRA BR
01:30 UTC69.866.240° 14 kt321006.4+TSRA FG
01:36 UTC69.866.240° 7 kt271006.8+TSRA BR
01:38 UTC69.866.2 5 kt1006.8+TSRA BR
01:42 UTC69.866.240° 5 kt1006.8+TSRA BR
01:49 UTC6866.2340° 6 kt1007.1+TSRA BR
01:53 UTC686770° 5 kt1006.4+TSRA FG
02:03 UTC66.266.220° 4 kt1007.1+TSRA BR
02:15 UTC6866.2120° 9 kt1006.1VCTS -RA BR
02:17 UTC6866.2120° 8 kt1006.1VCTS -RA BR
02:33 UTC6866.2 3 kt1007.5
02:53 UTC68660° 0 kt1007.1

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

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 197 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:04 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
01:05 UTCTORNADO4 S BrandonDouglas, MNDAMAGE TO BARN AND GRAIN BIN NEAR COUNTY ROAD 7 AND COUNTY ROAD 8.

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 July 22, 2010

16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 222:38 AM CDTEF1Pocahontas, IA2.6250$1.0 million
July 222:25 PM EDTEF0Johnson, IN0.825$2,000
July 224:08 PM CDTEF1Dane, WI1.530$1,000
July 224:24 PM CDTEF0Dane, WI3.030
July 225:45 PM EDTEF0Branch, MI1.5300
July 225:10 PM CDTEF0Jefferson, WI5.730
July 225:35 PM CDTEF0Jefferson, WI0.130
July 225:51 PM CDTEF0Beltrami, MN4.715
July 226:02 PM CDTEF1Dane, WI4.275$20,000
July 226:22 PM CDTEF0Jefferson, WI2.875
July 226:30 PM CDTEF0Otter Tail, MN1.015
July 226:38 PM CDTEF0Jefferson, WI3.975
July 226:52 PM CDTEF1Dane, WI1.575$5,000
July 227:02 PM CDTEF2Waukesha, WI1.0100$75,000
July 227:10 PM CDTEF0Dane, WI0.230
July 2210:23 PM EDTEF0Allegan, MI0.250

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.