Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2014

EF0 tornado, Gluek to Maynard, Minnesota, June 19, 2014

From Gluek to Maynard, this EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Chippewa County on June 19, 2014, touching down at 4:45 PM CDT and reaching 10 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    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 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
EF0
Date
June 19, 2014
Touchdown
4:45 PM CDT (21:45 UTC)
Lifted
4:46 PM CDT (21:46 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Chippewa County
Touchdown point
44.931, -95.488
Lift-off point
44.934, -95.485
Record number
1406191545-01

The damage survey

6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MPX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0.

  • Tornado start. No damage survey was conducted
  • Tornado end. No damage survey was conducted.
  • Tornado start. No damage survey was conducted.
  • Tornado end. No damage survey was conducted.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

What the Weather Service recorded

A number of weak tornadoes and funnel clouds developed along a line of thunderstorms across west central Minnesota during the late afternoon of Thursday, June 19th. All tornadoes and funnel clouds were quite narrow, and some of them occurred simultaneously or nearly so. There was no significant damage nor any injuries.

A tornado touched down in a field and moved northeast-northeast across County Road 13. It only tore up some field grasses.

Law enforcement and multiple witnesses watched this tornado touch down in an open field. It was described as being like for a rope. After the tornado lifted, the funnel descended another two times but never again made contact with the ground.

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

The warnings

5 minutes of warning. NWS MPX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:40 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
12:35 UTC23:08 UTCFlood WarningMPX
21:40 UTC22:15 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 19:53 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 surface observations

Montevideo (MVE), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:54 UTC78.871.6220° 7 kt1010.5
20:14 UTC80.673.4210° 6 kt201010.5
20:33 UTC80.673.4220° 5 kt1010.8
20:54 UTC82.469.8290° 9 kt141010.8
21:14 UTC80.669.8280° 10 kt171010.8
21:34 UTC80.668290° 12 kt171011.2
21:54 UTC80.666.2290° 10 kt141010.8
22:14 UTC80.664.4290° 8 kt161011.2
22:34 UTC80.666.2300° 8 kt1011.2
22:54 UTC80.666.2300° 6 kt1011.2
23:14 UTC80.666.2300° 4 kt1011.5
23:34 UTC80.666.20° 0 kt1011.9

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

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 152 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:46 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
19:08 UTCFLASH FLOODMaynardChippewa, MN90TH ST. SE SOUTH OF MAYNARD HAD APPROXIMATELY 4 FEET OF WATER OVER ROAD. SEVERAL RESIDENTIAL BASEMENTS IN NORTHERN MAYNARD FROM AMY ST TO RUTH ST AND NORTH TO JESSIE AVE FLOODED. HOMES ON SOUTH SIDE OF TOWN ON SWIFT AVE
21:08 UTCTORNADO3 Wsw BensonSwift, MN
21:13 UTCTORNADO1 S BensonSwift, MNDEBRIS CLOUD SIGHTED NEAR HIGHWAY 12.
21:13 UTCTORNADO1 S BensonSwift, MNTREE DOWN.
21:22 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDBensonSwift, MNCURRENTLY OVER TOWN, BUT HAS BEEN TOUCHING DOWN INTERMITTENTLY.
21:32 UTCTORNADOBensonSwift, MNSOME SIDING RIPPED OFF A BUILDING ON EASTERN PORTION OF BENSON.
21:39 UTCTORNADO1 Nne GluekChippewa, MN
21:42 UTCTORNADO2 Ne BensonSwift, MN
21:45 UTCTORNADO7 W Clara CityChippewa, MNROPE TORNADO SPOTTED HEADING NORTHEAST.
21:51 UTCTORNADO2 Sw Swift FallsSwift, MNTORNADO HEADING NORTHEAST.
22:25 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD11 N MaynardChippewa, MNFUNNEL CLOUD HEADING NORTHEAST.

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

This ground now

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

The other tornadoes of June 19, 2014

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 191:30 PM CDTEF0Clay, IA0.150
June 191:05 PM MDTEF0Meade, SD0.110
June 191:45 PM MDTEF0Meade, SD0.110
June 192:03 PM MDTEF0Haakon, SD0.110
June 193:04 PM CDTEF1Delaware, IA15.775$50,000
June 194:00 PM CDTEF0Swift, MN0.910
June 194:13 PM CDTEF0Swift, MN4.420
June 194:16 PM CDTEF0Douglas, MN3.610
June 194:32 PM CDTEF0Swift, MN0.710$5,000
June 194:37 PM CDTEF0Chippewa, MN1.010

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.