Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota

2013 tornadoes in Minnesota

15 tornadoes touched down in Minnesota in 2013, 48 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2012 2014 The whole country in 2013

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 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.
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.

Every tornado in Minnesota in 2013

May 17 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 17	5:45 PM CDT	EF0	Cottonwood	0.5	50
May 17	6:10 PM CDT	EF0	Jackson	0.5	50

June 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 5	5:42 PM CDT	EF0	Dodge	0.0	5

June 21 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 21	3:46 AM CDT	EF0	Chisago	0.5	50			$100,000
June 21	5:19 PM CDT	EF0	Lyon	0.1	50

June 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 25	11:25 PM CDT	EF0	Clay	7.0	100

July 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 22	1:33 AM CDT	EF1	Clearwater	7.5	150			$150,000
July 22	1:50 AM CDT	EF2	Mahnomen	21.1	400			$1.8 million

August 6 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
August 6	4:00 PM CDT	EF0	Stevens	0.1	10
August 6	4:29 PM CDT	EF0	Stevens	0.1	10
August 6	5:17 PM CDT	EF0	Kandiyohi	0.2	30

August 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 26	8:15 PM CDT	EF0	Otter Tail	0.1	50

August 29 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 29	12:28 AM CDT	EF1	Cass	12.9	300

September 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 11	3:19 PM CDT	EF0	Lake of the Woods	9.3	30

October 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 11	5:25 PM CDT	EF1	Traverse	0.4	70

Nearby

Every tornado in Minnesota since 1950 Warnings in force in Minnesota The live radar over Minnesota

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.