EF1 tornado, Jacobson to Wawina, Minnesota, June 19, 2016

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

June 19, 2016

Touchdown

6:49 PM CDT (23:49 UTC)

Lifted

6:59 PM CDT (23:59 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

8.1 miles (13.1 km)

Path width

440 yards (402 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Aitkin and Itasca counties

Touchdown point

47.019, -93.246

Lift-off point

47.051, -93.081

Record number

1606191749-01

15 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DLH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

• multiple trees snapped halfway up. mix of softwood birch trees and hardwood pine trees.
• multiple trees snapped, and down.
• End of visible damage path. A few large branches were broken in this small stand of softwood trees while other trees adjacent were undamaged.
• Tornado continued across bog, but lack of DIs and visible damage limits rating to EF-0. Track visible on oblique view from west end of track as brownish smudge through greener bog.

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

Tornadic thunderstorms formed in a very unstable airmass ahead of a cold front that moved through the area during the evening. Storms developed around 5 pm, and moved rapidly east, affecting much of northeast Minnesota and parts of northwest Wisconsin. Tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds occurred across parts of the area.||Damage surveys conducted by National Weather Service meteorologists confirmed 4 tornadoes over northeast Minnesota that evening. The strength of the tornadoes ranged from EF0 to EF2.

The tornado developed in a wooded area and bog in far northern Aitkin County, about 1.25 miles north-northeast of the intersection of Highways 65 and 200. The tornado tracked northeast and continued into Itasca County. The tornado moved through far southeast Itasca County, crossing US Highway 2 and dissipating near a grove of trees approximately 1 mile west of the St. Louis County line. The tornado destroyed several pole barns, lofted a roof from a house, and destroyed the house. Analysis of the construction methods at this location, and surrounding damage, yielded a rating of EF-0. However, EF-1 tree damage was noted immediately west and north of Sabo 2 and continued eastward. The tornado reached its maximum intensity approximately 2.2 miles southwest of Wawina where high-end EF-1 damage was noted to a stand of trees. Oblique angle aerial photography from the western end of the track revealed a path through the bog adjacent to US-2, which was not directly observable from the air nor from the ground. The tornado moved through two small stands of trees breaking branches and snapping a few narrow trunks before dissipating. Several videos and photographs of this tornado have been reported.

The tornado developed in a wooded area and bog in far northern Aitkin County, about 1.25 miles north-northeast of the intersection of Highways 65 and 200. The tornado tracked northeast and continued into Itasca County. The tornado moved through far southeast Itasca County, crossing US Highway 2 and dissipating near a grove of trees approximately 1 mile west of the St. Louis County line. The tornado destroyed several pole barns, lofted a roof from a house, and destroyed the house. Analysis of the construction methods at this location, and surrounding damage, yielded a rating of EF-0. However, EF-1 tree damage was noted immediately west and north of Sabo 2 and continued eastward. The tornado reached its maximum intensity approximately 2.2 miles southwest of Wawina where high-end EF-1 damage was noted to a stand of trees. Oblique angle aerial photography from the western end of the track revealed a path through the bog adjacent to US-2, which was not directly observable from the air nor from the ground. The tornado moved through two small stands of trees breaking branches and snapping a few narrow trunks before dissipating. Several videos and photographs of this tornado have been reported.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS DLH issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:40 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:04 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 22:21 UTC and running to 04:00 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 Enhanced 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.

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:49 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 2016 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

5 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.