EF2 tornado, Eldred to Terrebonne, Minnesota, July 21, 2014

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. 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.

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.

Rating

EF2

Date

July 21, 2014

Touchdown

8:52 PM CDT (01:52 UTC)

Lifted

9:35 PM CDT (02:35 UTC)

On the ground

43 minutes

Path length

37.9 miles (61.0 km)

Path width

800 yards (732 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Polk and Red Lake counties

Touchdown point

47.700, -96.860

Lift-off point

47.860, -96.080

Record number

1407211952-01

During the late afternoon of July 21st, a stationary boundary set up across northeast North Dakota. Temperatures north of the boundary were generally in the low to mid 80s, while to the south they were in the mid 80s to low 90s. Surface dew point readings were very high, with most locations in the low to mid 70s. A few thunderstorms fired north of the front around the Langdon, ND, area, dropping some large hail. However, the more significant action came from a thunderstorm complex that formed across west central North Dakota and moved east during the evening. This complex evolved into a bow echo with good rotational structure on the northern book end vortice. Strong straight line winds, large hail, and a few tornadoes were reported as this complex moved across eastern North Dakota into the northwest quarter of Minnesota.

The tornado, which was wrapped in heavy rains and damaging downburst winds, tracked from near Eldred, through the south side of Crookston, through Gentilly, where it crossed into Red Lake County and ended about eight miles east-southeast of Red Lake Falls. The tornado snapped or uprooted numerous trees along its path, tore sections of roofing off of buildings and residences, tumbled empty rail cars, and snapped power poles along its nearly 38 mile path (about 25 miles in Polk County). Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.

This tornado began near Eldred, in Polk County, at 1952 CST. From Eldred, it tracked across the south side of Crookston, through Gentilly, where it crossed into Red Lake County about four miles east-northeast of Gentilly. From this point it continued east-northeast to a point about eight miles east-southeast of Red Lake Falls. The total track length was about 38 miles, with about 13 miles of the total in Red Lake County. The tornado was wrapped in heavy rains and damaging downburst winds and it snapped or uprooted numerous trees along its path, tore sections of roofing off of buildings and residences, tumbled empty rail cars, and snapped power poles. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.

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

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 22:10 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:36 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 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.

Crookston Municipal (CKN), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:50 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.