EF2 tornado, Verndale to Staples, 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 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 12, 2015

Touchdown

6:38 PM CDT (23:38 UTC)

Lifted

6:58 PM CDT (23:58 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

12.1 miles (19.5 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.4 million

Crop damage

$400,000

Counties

Wadena and Todd counties

Touchdown point

46.380, -95.070

Lift-off point

46.350, -94.822

Record number

1507121738-01

21 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DLH and NWS FGF and NWS MPX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 118 mph.

• some shingles and tin roofing off.
• steel bins dented and doors popped off.
• multiple breaks along H system.
• small shed destroyed at England prairie pioneer farm.

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

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.

A very unstable atmosphere combined with ample wind shear to result in the development of storms with large hail, severe winds, a tornado, and very heavy rainfall from Alexandria to Lake Mille Lacs...then southeast along Interstate 94. ||Initially, a severe thunderstorm developed near Fergus Falls during the afternoon of Sunday, July 12th. As the afternoon progressed, several severe thunderstorms developed south toward Wheaton, then spread east-southeast toward Alexandria. One severe storm moved rapidly eastward across the Todd, Wadena county line and eventually produced a tornado and widespread straight-line wind damage. This tornado moved from Wadena County and into Todd County, destroying a barn south of Aldrich and causing numerous downed trees and power lines. The tornado was accompanied by damaging rear flank downdraft and downburst winds, and the same storm produced wind damage in northwest Morrison County. ||Severe storms moved into the area west of Alexandria and produced winds greater than 80 mph in some locations. Near Brandon, there was structural damage to a large shed, a large pontoon boat was flipped on Maple Lake, and there were numerous downed trees and power lines. ||Severe storms merged in west central and central Minnesota and then developed more into a line of storms and produced periodic downed trees, power lines, and occasional estimated winds of 60-70 mph as the storms moved southeast along Interstate 94 and into the Twin Cities metro area. Damage was not as widespread after it moved out of central Minnesota and into east central Minnesota, due to less wind shear and instability.

A tornado wrapped in heavy rain and damaging downburst winds tracked across southern Wadena and Aldrich townships. The tornado tore down four sets of H-pole high voltage power poles and demolished outbuildings and a storage barn at the England Prairie Pioneer Farms. The tornado also demolished a silo and ripped through sections of center pivot irrigation systems at multiple locations. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.

A tornado moved out of Wadena County (where it was rated EF2) and into Todd County. A barn was collapsed just south of Aldrich, with roofing material blown 1/2 mile downwind. Dozens of trees were broken or uprooted in this area. Several wooden power poles were snapped. An outbuilding was also destroyed. Farther east, an outbuilding was destroyed along with a roof partially blown off near the intersection of 500th street and 223rd Avenue, just northwest of Dower Lake. Significant tree damage was noted on the northeast side of Dower Lake, and concentrated damage continued in a path to about two miles west of Staples. Separate entries have also been made for numerous trees blown down due to the rear flank downdraft and downbursts north of the tornado track.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:25 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 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.

Staples (SAZ), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 200 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:38 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.