EF2 tornado, Northcote to Lancaster, Minnesota, September 19, 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

September 19, 2014

Touchdown

6:19 PM CDT (23:19 UTC)

Lifted

6:40 PM CDT (23:40 UTC)

On the ground

21 minutes

Path length

10.0 miles (16.1 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$600,000

Crop damage

$100,000

County

Kittson County

Touchdown point

48.860, -97.020

Lift-off point

48.830, -96.845

Record number

1409191719-01

Late in the afternoon of September 19th, scattered thunderstorms developed across southern Manitoba. These storms seemed to develop around a weak surface low that had lingered over the northern Red River Valley through the afternoon. One thunderstorm crossed into Pembina County in northeast North Dakota, and immediately showed tornadic tendencies. As this storm crossed into Kittson County in northwest Minnesota it produced a tornado. Other storms resulted in a second tornado as well as several reports of large hail.

This tornado snapped or uprooted numerous trees along its path. Several farm outbuildings, steel grain bins, and a steel pole shed were completely destroyed. One farmstead sized wooden grain elevator was completely dismantled and sections of it were thrown dozens of yards. Multiple power poles were snapped at different locations. Peak winds were estimated at 130 mph.

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

34 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:45 UTC, 34 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:30 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:17 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.

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 149 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:19 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

1 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.