Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2011

EF1 tornado, Park Rapids, Minnesota, May 30, 2011

This EF1 tornado ran 6.0 miles across Hubbard County on May 30, 2011, touching down at 10:35 PM CDT and reaching 300 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $600,000 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
May 30, 2011
Touchdown
10:35 PM CDT (03:35 UTC)
Lifted
10:44 PM CDT (03:44 UTC)
On the ground
9 minutes
Path length
6.0 miles (9.7 km)
Path width
300 yards (274 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$600,000
County
Hubbard County
Touchdown point
46.910, -95.100
Lift-off point
46.961, -95.010
Record number
1105302135-01

What the Weather Service recorded

An impressive set up for severe weather occurred on the evening of the 30th. A surface low set up near Fargo with a warm front extending out to its east. Meanwhile, a cold front extended to the south, down into central Nebraska. In the warm sector, temperatures climbed into the low to mid 80s with dew points in the middle 60s. As convection blossomed in the evening, thunderstorms erupted all along the cold front, from North Dakota all the way down into Nebraska.

This tornado tracked for about six miles and was likely enshrouded in downburst winds and heavy rain along much of its path. Several sections of center pivot irrigation systems were flipped. Numerous large trees were uprooted or snapped and shingles and roofing materials were scattered about. Peak winds were estimated at 105 mph.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:46 UTC and running to 05:48 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:54 UTC01:46 UTCTornado WatchFGF
01:46 UTC05:48 UTCTornado WatchFGF
03:21 UTC04:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGF
15:00 UTC04:00 UTCWind AdvisoryFGF

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:45 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.

International Fa, MN (KINL), 00:00Z

3.6 hours before the tornado, 224 km from the path. May 31, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, International Fa, MN at 00:00Z on 2011-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 4 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 443 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, International Fa, MN at 00:00Z on 2011-05-31The 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 657 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 52 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
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
443 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
657 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
727 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.2
0-3 km lapse rate
2.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

International Fa, MN (KINL), 12:00Z

8.4 hours after it, 224 km from the path. May 31, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 2011-05-31Temperature 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 -411, lifted condensation level 1293 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, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 2011-05-31The 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 314 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 59 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
-411 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1293 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
314 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
295 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Park Rapids (PKD), 4 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
01:53 UTC7669140° 12 kt1000.3
02:53 UTC7468110° 12 kt999.3
03:43 UTC69.864.4 1000
03:53 UTC7065 1002

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

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 184 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:33 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
03:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 52WadenaWadena, MNMEASURED WIND GUST OF 52 MPH.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 30, 2011

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 303:04 PM MDTEF0Adams, CO0.150
May 304:20 PM CDTEF0Rock, NE0.020
May 304:47 PM CDTEF0Blaine, NE0.020
May 305:05 PM CDTEF0Holt, NE0.020
May 306:26 PM CDTEF0Charles Mix, SD0.550
May 306:52 PM CDTEF0Holt, NE0.020
May 307:34 PM CDTEF0Dawson, NE0.425
May 308:12 PM CDTEF0Lake, SD0.750
May 308:22 PM CDTEF0Lake, SD0.550
May 308:46 PM CDTEF2Richland, ND4.3600$550,000
May 308:52 PM CDTEF1Cass, ND2.3150$250,000
May 308:55 PM CDTEF2Cass, ND4.0400$600,000
May 309:01 PM CDTEF1Clay, MN4.5200$250,000
May 309:03 PM CDTEF2Cass, ND7.4600$750,000
May 309:26 PM CDTEF1Polk, MN9.0100$50,000

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.