Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota

2015 tornadoes in Minnesota

40 tornadoes touched down in Minnesota in 2015, 39 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2014 2016 The whole country in 2015

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 2015

May 16 16 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 16	4:33 PM CDT	EF1	Chippewa	1.8	50	$250,000
May 16	5:18 PM CDT	EF0	Swift	2.7	100	$5,000
May 16	5:23 PM CDT	EF0	Chippewa	2.7	25
May 16	5:33 PM CDT	EF1	Swift	3.1	100	$50,000
May 16	5:36 PM CDT	EF0	Swift	0.1	15
May 16	5:51 PM CDT	EF0	Chippewa	0.8	25
May 16	5:57 PM CDT	EF0	Chippewa	0.5	25
May 16	6:24 PM CDT	EF0	Swift	0.3	25
May 16	6:38 PM CDT	EF0	Swift	1.3	25
May 16	7:01 PM CDT	EF0	Pope	0.1	15
May 16	7:15 PM CDT	EF0	Pope	5.0	200
May 16	7:41 PM CDT	EF0	Pope	2.5	50
May 16	7:48 PM CDT	EF0	Meeker	5.0	50	$50,000
May 16	7:56 PM CDT	EF0	Pope	0.8	15
May 16	8:09 PM CDT	EF0	Douglas	0.2	15
May 16	8:28 PM CDT	EF0	Stearns	1.4	25	$100,000

June 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 22	2:26 AM CDT	EF1	Mahnomen	0.2	30
June 22	6:50 AM CDT	EF0	Nicollet	2.8	50

June 27 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 27	8:05 PM CDT	EF0	Clay	0.1	25

July 12 9 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 12	4:59 PM CDT	EF0	Otter Tail	3.0	100
July 12	5:07 PM CDT	EF0	Wilkin	0.1	25
July 12	5:14 PM CDT	EF0	Wilkin	0.1	10
July 12	5:31 PM CDT	EF0	Grant	1.9	100
July 12	5:44 PM CDT	EF0	Otter Tail	0.5	150
July 12	5:48 PM CDT	EF1	Otter Tail	2.0	150
July 12	6:00 PM CDT	EF1	Otter Tail	0.1	30
July 12	6:21 PM CDT	EF1	Grant	2.0	100
July 12	6:38 PM CDT	EF2	Wadena	12.1	400	$1.4 million

July 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 17	11:56 PM CDT	EF1	Carver	5.1	100			$250,000

July 18 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 18	1:00 AM CDT	EF0	Ramsey	1.9	75			$500,000
July 18	2:02 AM CDT	EF0	Wabasha	0.0	25			$15,000

July 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 23	12:46 AM CDT	EF1	Norman	5.4	500

July 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 24	6:40 PM CDT	EF0	Watonwan	0.3	25			$100,000

August 6 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 6	4:05 PM CDT	EF0	Swift	0.1	15
August 6	4:09 PM CDT	EF0	Swift	0.1	15
August 6	4:59 PM CDT	EF0	Kandiyohi	0.1	25
August 6	5:03 PM CDT	EF0	Kandiyohi	0.1	25
August 6	5:21 PM CDT	EF1	Yellow Medicine	1.9	440	$500,000
August 6	6:07 PM CDT	EF0	Kandiyohi	0.6	25

August 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 8	4:25 PM CDT	EF1	Saint Louis	1.6	110

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.