Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2010
EF2 tornado, Essig, Minnesota, June 25, 2010
This EF2 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Brown County on June 25, 2010, touching down at 5:55 PM CDT and reaching 50 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.
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 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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
- EF2
- Date
- June 25, 2010
- Touchdown
- 5:55 PM CDT (22:55 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:56 PM CDT (22:56 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.3 miles (0.5 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Brown County
- Touchdown point
- 44.340, -94.660
- Lift-off point
- 44.340, -94.654
- Record number
- 1006251655-01
What the Weather Service recorded
During the morning of Friday June 25th, a small complex of thunderstorms developed across west-central Minnesota, and quickly moved eastward across southern Minnesota. Isolated severe weather occurred with these storms in west-central Minnesota during the morning hours. ||During the afternoon, a larger complex of storms developed across western Minnesota, and moved quickly across portions of central and southern Minnesota during the evening. Damage was extensive as several bow echoes, supercells, and squall lines raced across the area. There were numerous reports of structural damage to farms and homesteads, very large hail, and very large trees blown down. Softball to baseball size hail was reported near New Ulm, Minnesota, with several reports of wind damage throughout southern, and east-central Minnesota. ||Several significant tornadoes occurred in portions of south central Minnesota during the late afternoon, and early evening hours. ||Two separate severe storms moved across the Twin Cities area, one produced minor damage with hail in the late afternoon, but the second that occurred in the early evening caused more straight-line wind damage throughout the area, along with flash flooding.
Two farmsteads were hit near the intersection of 260th Street and County Road 10, with one receiving considerable damage. A barn was 2/3 destroyed, a harvestore silo was dented in about 70 feet off the ground, a corn crib was flattened, multiple wagons were displaced approximately 50 yards, and a wooden pole rated to 118 mph was cracked at the base.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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.
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 Twin Cities, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jun 25, 3:37 PM CDT, 2 hours 18 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 25, 3:37 PM CDT, 2 hours 18 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 337 PM CDT FRI JUN 25 2010 .DISCUSSION... CONCERNS REVOLVE AROUND THE SEVERE THREAT BOTH THIS EVENING AND AGAIN SATURDAY EVENING. STORMS ARE STARTING TO FIRE NORTH OF THE STRONG CAPE/MULI GRADIENT OVER EASTERN SD AND WEST CENTRAL MN...AND NEAR THE EDGE OF +12 700 MB TEMP. STRONG WARM ADVECTION AND MOISTURE TRANSPORT INTO THIS BOUNDARY AND GRADIENT WILL EVENTUALLY DEVELOP AN MCS TRACKING ESE ACROSS MAINLY SOUTHERN MN, EARLY ON...SUPER CELLS LIKELY IN THE AREA OF STRONG PRESS FALLS CO-LOCATED WITH THE VERY UNSTABLE REGIME IN SW MN AND EASTERN SD. THOUGHT ABOUT A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR PARTS OF THE SOUTH BUT THE COMPLEX SHOULD MOVE ALONG QUICKLY BUT CERTAINLY WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF 2+ INCH LOCALIZED RAIN. MAY NEED SOME FLOOD STATEMENTS THOUGH. THERE ARE STILL SOME DIFFERENCES IN THE GUIDANCE TRENDS FOR LATER SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT. WONDER IF THE GFS IS A LITTLE ROBUST WITH THE SUB 1000 MB LOW MOVING/DEVELOPING INTO THE AREA. PREFER MORE OF A NAM /SREF SOLUTION WITH A BOUNDARY AND WEAKER LOW OVER SOUTHERN MN. WILL DEPEND AGAIN ON HOW FAR SOUTH ANY OUTFLOWS END UP TONIGHT. THE UPPER JET MAY ALLOW MORE OF PROLONGED RIGHT ENTRANCE REGION OVER THE AREA SATURDAY NIGHT...WHICH COULD BE A RISK FOR HEAVY RAIN. HAVE ALSO OUTLINED AN AREA OF SEVERE OVER SOUTHERN MN LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE SYSTEM APPEARS TO BE ON TRACK TO EXIT THE AREA ON SUNDAY. THE BUILDING UPPER RIDGE STILL LOOKS TO GIVE US DRY WEATHER FOR MOST OF NEXT WEEK. THE NAEFS METEOGRAMS AND GEFS POP FIELDS SHOW A DECENT DRY PERIOD AS WELL. && .AVIATION.../18Z TAF ISSUANCE/ WARM FRONT SEEMS TO BE DRAPED FROM EC SD ACROSS SRN MN... THROUGH THERE IS SOME INDICATION OF BOUNDARY ALSO ACROSS CENTRAL MN PER SPC MESOANALYSIS. SHOWERS GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTH/EAST OF COOLER MID LEVEL TEMPS. FOR AVIATION PURPOSES...LOOKS LIKE SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE FROM AXN/STC INTO WISC INTO MID AFTERNOON WITH A FEW ISOLATED STORMS...THEN MUCH BETTER CHANCE OF THUNDER THROUGH MID EVENING...TAPERING OFF FROM WEST TO EAST. RESIDUAL MOISTURE AND LIGHT WINDS COULD BRING SOME MVFR CIGS AND VSBYS SATURDAY MORNING... ESPECIALLY TO CENTRAL MN INTO WISC SITES. KMSP...THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE OF THUNDER THE NEXT FEW HOURS BUT PROBABILITY IS MUCH LOWER THAN LATE AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. VCSH SHOULD SUFFICE FOR NOW IN WARM ADVECTION ZONE. AS FOR STRONG WIND POTENTIAL IN STORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...REMOVED MENTION OF G45 MAINLY BECAUSE BEST CHANCE OF STRONG WIND SEEMS TO BE LINING UP A LITTLE FARTHER SOUTH. MVFR CIGS/VSBYS POSSIBLE LATE TONIGHT WITH LIGHT WINDS IN WAKE OF PRECIP. && .MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. && JPR/TDK
Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 25, 2:08 PM CDT, 3 hours 47 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 208 PM CDT FRI JUN 25 2010 MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028- 261100- DOUGLAS-TODD-MORRISON-MILLE LACS-KANABEC-STEVENS-POPE-STEARNS- BENTON-SHERBURNE-ISANTI-CHISAGO-LAC QUI PARLE-SWIFT-CHIPPEWA- KANDIYOHI-MEEKER-WRIGHT-HENNEPIN-ANOKA-RAMSEY-WASHINGTON- YELLOW MEDICINE-RENVILLE-MCLEOD-SIBLEY-CARVER-SCOTT-DAKOTA- REDWOOD-BROWN-NICOLLET-LE SUEUR-RICE-GOODHUE-WATONWAN-BLUE EARTH- WASECA-STEELE-MARTIN-FARIBAULT-FREEBORN-POLK-BARRON-RUSK- ST. CROIX-PIERCE-DUNN-PEPIN-EAU CLAIRE- 208 PM CDT FRI JUN 25 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA...AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THE BEST CHANCE FOR TORNADOES WILL BE IN WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA. HEAVY RAINFALL IS ALSO ANTICIPATED. A WARM FRONT EXTENDING FROM SOUTH DAKOTA INTO SOUTHERN MINNESOTA WILL THE FOCUS FOR THE MOST SEVERE WEATHER. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE FRONT IS EXPECTED TO LINGER IN THE AREA ON SATURDAY...WITH THUNDERSTORM REDEVELOPMENT ANTICIPATED ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ANOTHER ROUND OF SEVERE STORMS IS EXPECTED...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...AND A FEW TORNADOES. HEAVY RAINFALL WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY ON SATURDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AND AGAIN ON SATURDAY.
In the hours before
Local storm report, Jun 25, 5:36 PM CDT, 19 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
536 PM CDT FRI JUN 25 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0535 PM HAIL NW PRINSBURG 44.94N 95.19W
06/25/2010 M1.75 INCH KANDIYOHI MN TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
CECLocal storm report, Jun 25, 5:39 PM CDT, 16 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
539 PM CDT FRI JUN 25 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0536 PM HAIL PLYMOUTH 45.02N 93.46W
06/25/2010 M1.00 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
CECLocal storm report, Jun 25, 5:44 PM CDT, 11 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
544 PM CDT FRI JUN 25 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0542 PM HAIL PLYMOUTH 45.02N 93.46W
06/25/2010 M0.88 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
CECLocal storm report, Jun 25, 5:47 PM CDT, 8 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
547 PM CDT FRI JUN 25 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0540 PM HAIL 5 S FAIRFAX 44.46N 94.72W
06/25/2010 E4.25 INCH NICOLLET MN LAW ENFORCEMENT
HWY 4 AND COUNTY ROAD 5
&&
CECLocal storm report, Jun 25, 5:50 PM CDT, 5 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
550 PM CDT FRI JUN 25 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0548 PM HAIL NEW HOPE 45.04N 93.39W
06/25/2010 E0.75 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
CECLocal storm report, Jun 25, 5:55 PM CDT, 0 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
555 PM CDT FRI JUN 25 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0550 PM FUNNEL CLOUD N NEW ULM 44.31N 94.46W
06/25/2010 BROWN MN TRAINED SPOTTER
0550 PM FUNNEL CLOUD NEW ULM 44.31N 94.46W
06/25/2010 BROWN MN TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
CECThe 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
10.9 hours before the tornado, 101 km from the path. June 25, 2010.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 38 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -225 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1153 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 46 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 16 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 66 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 119 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.2 K/km
Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), 00:00Z
1.1 hours after it, 101 km from the path. June 26, 2010.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1350 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -28 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1672 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1067 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 166 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 350 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.6
- Supercell composite
- 13.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.4 K/km
The surface observations
New Ulm Municipal (ULM), 13 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 Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:55 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 2010 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 25, 2010
21 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 25 | 3:57 PM CDT | EF0 | Hardeman, TN | 0.7 | 50 | $25,000 | ||
| June 25 | 4:55 PM CDT | EF1 | Morton, ND | 1.6 | 50 | $200,000 | ||
| June 25 | 5:35 PM CDT | EF0 | Emmons, ND | 0.5 | 20 | |||
| June 25 | 5:00 PM MDT | EF0 | Cherry, NE | 0.9 | 20 | |||
| June 25 | 6:30 PM CDT | EF2 | Nicollet, MN | 4.3 | 75 | |||
| June 25 | 6:55 PM CDT | EF2 | Blue Earth, MN | 0.9 | 50 | |||
| June 25 | 6:55 PM CDT | EF1 | Redwood, MN | 2.8 | 200 | |||
| June 25 | 6:58 PM CDT | EF1 | Blue Earth, MN | 4.3 | 75 | |||
| June 25 | 7:05 PM CDT | EF0 | Cottonwood, MN | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| June 25 | 7:05 PM CDT | EF2 | Blue Earth, MN | 1.9 | 40 | |||
| June 25 | 7:05 PM CDT | EF0 | Thomas, NE | 1.0 | 20 | |||
| June 25 | 7:09 PM CDT | EF0 | Blue Earth, MN | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| June 25 | 8:10 PM CDT | EF0 | Watonwan, MN | 0.9 | 10 | |||
| June 25 | 8:19 PM CDT | EF0 | Freeborn, MN | 0.9 | 30 | |||
| June 25 | 8:38 PM CDT | EF0 | Martin, MN | 0.4 | 30 | |||
| June 25 | 9:53 PM CDT | EF4 | Sibley–Little Rock tornado, IA | 13.7 | 800 | 13 | $3.5 million | |
| June 25 | 9:55 PM CDT | EF1 | Lyon, IA | 1.2 | 100 | $20,000 | ||
| June 25 | 10:45 PM CDT | EF0 | Osceola, IA | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| June 25 | 10:53 PM CDT | EF0 | Sioux, IA | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| June 25 | 11:05 PM CDT | EF0 | O'Brien, IA | 0.6 | 200 | |||
| June 25 | 11:42 PM CDT | EF1 | O'Brien, IA | 3.3 | 100 | $20,000 |
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.