Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota

2017 tornadoes in Minnesota

61 tornadoes touched down in Minnesota in 2017, 111 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2016 2018 The whole country in 2017

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 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 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.

Every tornado in Minnesota in 2017

March 6 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 65:04 PM CSTEF1Faribault9.3200
March 65:38 PM CSTEF1Freeborn11.9300
March 65:39 PM CSTEF1Sherburne8.8300

May 17 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 174:29 PM CDTEF0Wabasha0.830$10,000
May 177:35 PM CDTEF0Wabasha0.330$10,000

June 10 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 102:10 AM CDTEF1Hubbard0.6150$150,000

June 11 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 117:31 AM CDTEF1Kandiyohi1.6300$200,000

June 13 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 136:45 PM CDTEF0Stevens1.535
June 136:56 PM CDTEF1Stevens3.0300
June 137:28 PM CDTEF0Grant0.575
June 138:27 PM CDTEF1Big Stone0.3170
June 138:30 PM CDTEF1Traverse0.150

June 21 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 216:24 PM CDTEF0Wilkin0.575
June 216:39 PM CDTEF0Wilkin1.3100

June 28 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 286:22 PM CDTEF0Olmsted0.025
June 286:42 PM CDTEF0Olmsted0.425$5,000
June 287:07 PM CDTEF0Olmsted0.525$3,000

July 6 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 62:48 PM CDTEF1Lake0.9264

July 9 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 99:37 PM CDTEF0Nicollet1.350
July 910:30 PM CDTEF1Blue Earth2.7100

July 11 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 117:07 PM CDTEF1Polk10.0250$50,000
July 118:42 PM CDTEF2Norman12.8500$475,000

July 12 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 122:20 AM CDTEF0Anoka12.6440
July 122:27 AM CDTEF1Anoka10.7400
July 122:39 AM CDTEF0Chisago0.6200
July 122:41 AM CDTEF0Washington3.0250

July 17 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 175:39 PM CDTEF0Todd4.4200
July 175:46 PM CDTEF0Douglas1.975
July 176:07 PM CDTEF0Douglas4.7200

July 19 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 192:00 PM CDTEF0Lyon0.550$30,000
July 192:02 PM CDTEF0Lyon1.550$25,000
July 192:48 PM CDTEF0Brown5.3330
July 195:07 PM CDTEF1Olmsted0.825$40,000
July 195:25 PM CDTEF1Fillmore2.030$20,000

July 21 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 213:45 PM CDTEF1Beltrami2.8200$100,000
July 215:34 PM CDTEF0Clay0.4100

August 3 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 36:04 PM CDTEF0Cass0.320
August 36:04 PM CDTEF0Cass0.210
August 36:10 PM CDTEF0Cass0.120

August 16 11 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 164:46 PM CDTEF0Nicollet3.975
August 165:03 PM CDTEF0Nicollet1.925
August 165:32 PM CDTEF0Nicollet1.320
August 165:33 PM CDTEF1Nicollet5.275
August 166:15 PM CDTEF0Sibley1.460
August 166:26 PM CDTEF0Sibley4.175
August 167:05 PM CDTEF0Scott1.310
August 167:21 PM CDTEF0Sibley0.625
August 167:46 PM CDTEF0Scott1.275
August 168:05 PM CDTEF0McLeod0.850
August 168:08 PM CDTEF0McLeod0.130

August 18 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 187:26 PM CDTEF1Nobles3.0100$500,000
August 187:37 PM CDTEF1Nobles1.3100
August 187:47 PM CDTEF1Nobles1.6100

September 19 7 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 197:50 PM CDTEF1Norman4.6100$52,000
September 1912:18 AM CDTEF0Chippewa2.1100
September 1912:22 AM CDTEF1Chippewa0.180
September 1912:28 AM CDTEF1Swift12.6550$1.6 million
September 1912:32 AM CDTEF1Pope9.2880$1.3 million
September 1912:48 AM CDTEF0Stearns1.2330
September 1912:49 AM CDTEF1Stearns8.2360

September 20 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 201:04 AM CDTEF1Todd6.8440

Crossed into Minnesota

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Minnesota. They are counted under the state they began in.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 117:48 PM CDTEF2Traill, ND to MN11.6600$800,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in MinnesotaThe live radar over Minnesota

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.