EF1 tornado, Balmoral to Vining, Minnesota, July 12, 2015

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

July 12, 2015

Touchdown

5:48 PM CDT (22:48 UTC)

Lifted

5:55 PM CDT (22:55 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Otter Tail County

Touchdown point

46.340, -95.530

Lift-off point

46.337, -95.488

Record number

1507121648-01

After some thunderstorms rolled through the U. S. Highway 2 corridor during the evening of the 11th and early morning hours of the 12th, conditions set up for a larger outbreak of severe weather on the afternoon of the 12th. Afternoon temperatures along the Red River Valley into portions of west central Minnesota topped out in the lower 90s with dew points in the low to mid 70s. A stationary boundary set up from northeast North Dakota into west central Minnesota and upper level winds were very favorable to sustain storms. Numerous thunderstorms formed during the late afternoon and evening which produced large hail, tornadoes, and funnel clouds.

This tornado tracked for about two miles along and north of county road 16. The tornado snapped numerous pine trees and broke down large oak branches and limbs along its path. Peak winds were estimated at 90 mph. The tornado was viewed and photographed by spotters near Vining.

A brief touchdown was viewed and photographed by spotters located near Vining. A few trees in a shelterbelt were snapped roughly eight to ten feet above ground level. Peak winds were estimated at 80 mph.

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

30 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:18 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:06 UTC and running to 03:00 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 19:57 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.

Wadena Municipal (ADC), 26 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), 191 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:49 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 2015 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

11 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.