Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2016

EF0 tornado, Collis, Minnesota, June 14, 2016

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Traverse County on June 14, 2016, touching down at 5:50 PM CDT and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
June 14, 2016
Touchdown
5:50 PM CDT (22:50 UTC)
Lifted
5:51 PM CDT (22:51 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Traverse County
Touchdown point
45.610, -96.530
Lift-off point
45.612, -96.530
Record number
1606141650-01

The damage survey

4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ABR, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 70 mph.

  • Sheriff reported tornado 2 miles west of Barry. Lasted for 3 minutes.
  • Tornado lasted for approximately 30 seconds.
  • Thin rope tornado lasted for around a minute.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong surface low pressure area and warm front lifting northeast across the region brought many small thunderstorms which produced multiple weak tornadoes. No damage occurred with any of the tornadoes.

A tornado touched down briefly to the northeast of Barry with no damage reported.

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

The warnings

25 minutes of warning. NWS ABR issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:25 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:35 UTC and running to 23:33 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:35 UTC23:33 UTCTornado WatchABR
22:25 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningABR

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight 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 air that afternoon

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.

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 12:00Z

10.8 hours before the tornado, 166 km from the path. June 14, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 2016-06-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 78 joules per kilogram, CIN -188, lifted condensation level 907 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 2016-06-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 38 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 18 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
78 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-188 J/kg
Surface CAPE
225 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
907 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
3 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
71 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 00:00Z

1.2 hours after it, 166 km from the path. June 15, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 2016-06-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 12 joules per kilogram, CIN -150, lifted condensation level 785 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 2016-06-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -68 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 17 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
12 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-150 J/kg
Surface CAPE
69 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
785 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-68 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-45 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Wheaton Ndb (ETH), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:56 UTC69.866.280° 19 kt241003.4
21:16 UTC69.866.290° 19 kt241002.7
21:36 UTC69.866.280° 21 kt241002.7BR
21:56 UTC69.866.290° 21 kt241002.4
22:16 UTC69.866.290° 18 kt241002RA
22:36 UTC69.866.2100° 18 kt251001.7-RA
22:56 UTC69.869.8100° 17 kt1001.4-RA
23:16 UTC71.669.8110° 17 kt1000.7-RA
23:36 UTC71.669.8120° 16 kt211000.7
23:56 UTC71.669.8120° 21 kt251000.3
00:16 UTC73.469.8130° 13 kt241000.3
00:36 UTC73.469.8130° 14 kt1000.7

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

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 148 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:50 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:10 UTCTORNADO5 Se BeardsleyBig Stone, MNTHIN ROPE TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN AROUND 510 PM. 3 TO 5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BEARDSLEY.
22:26 UTCTORNADO2 W BarryBig Stone, MNSHERIFF REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND 2 MILES WEST OF BARRY.
22:50 UTCTORNADO4 Nne BarryTraverse, MNTORNADO LASTED FOR APPROXIMATELY 30 SECONDS.
01:40 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 E TenneyWilkin, MNPHOTO AND VIDEO POSTED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. PERSISTENT WALL CLOUD WITH BRIEF FUNNEL NOTED.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 14, 2016

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 141:52 PM CDTEF0Pipestone, MN3.820
June 142:22 PM CDTEF0Dickinson, IA0.425$1,000
June 142:42 PM CDTEF0Day, SD1.710
June 143:14 PM CDTEF0Day, SD2.010
June 143:34 PM CDTEF0Blue Earth, MN0.225
June 144:05 PM CDTEF0Le Sueur, MN2.225
June 144:14 PM CDTEF0Roberts, SD5.415
June 144:28 PM CDTEF0Rice, MN0.325
June 144:33 PM CDTEF0Blue Earth, MN2.120
June 145:10 PM CDTEF0Big Stone, MN0.110
June 145:16 PM CDTEF0Benton, IA0.210
June 145:26 PM CDTEF0Big Stone, MN0.810
June 147:15 PM CDTEF0Stark, IL0.110

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.