EF0 tornado, Waterville to Shieldsville, Minnesota, June 14, 2016

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

June 14, 2016

Touchdown

4:05 PM CDT (21:05 UTC)

Lifted

4:14 PM CDT (21:14 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

2.2 miles (3.5 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Le Sueur and Rice counties

Touchdown point

44.197, -93.542

Lift-off point

44.221, -93.512

Record number

1606141505-01

5 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. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

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

Tuesday morning, June 14th, a line of thunderstorms moved across far southern Minnesota, and into east central Minnesota and produced localized one to two inch rainfall amounts. During the early afternoon, a line of strong to severe thunderstorms developed across northeast Nebraska, and into northwest Iowa, southwest Minnesota and produced damaging winds of 60 to 70 mph. These storms moved into south central Minnesota and produced a few tornadoes, several reports of wind damage, and torrential rainfall which led to flash flooding. ||Most of the storms weakened below severe limits as they moved northward, toward the Twin Cities. However, torrential rainfall and areas of flash and areal flooding occurred across portions of southern and east central Minnesota. Rainfall amounts over five inches occurred in parts of Blue Earth County. Other areas received 2 to 4 inches of rainfall where storms were slow moving and trained. ||Due to the torrential rainfall numerous roads were closed in Blue Earth County, with mudslides reported on the following roads; ||Riverfront north of Augusta and south of greenwood.|Division Street in Mankato.|Behind Happy Chef on Highway 169. |Ahlstrom Road in Mankato.|Warren Street in Mankato.|Industrial Road in Mankato. |Harper & 8th Avenue in Mankato. ||Other roads that were closed due to flooding in Blue Earth county include; ||County Road 10 in Ceresco Township.|County Road 128 between County Road 30 and 32.|County Road 1 between Skyline and County Road 90. ||Some of the higher rainfall totals include; 6.50 inches one mile south of Lake Crystal, 5.75 inches in North Mankato, and 5.50 inches three miles south of Lake Crystal.

A tornado touched down occasionally, mostly over open fields. It did break a few trees. The tornado crossed into Rice County before dissipating.

The tornado originated in Le Sueur County and continued in Rice County. It occasionally touched down, knocking over a few trees and breaking some large limbs.

A storm chaser caught a tornado on video. Nearly a dozen trees were broken, but otherwise little damage was noted.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS MPX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:04 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:33 UTC and running to 23:10 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:04 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.

Waseca (Awos) (ACQ), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:05 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 2016 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

13 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.