EF1 tornado, Fasston to Leonard, Minnesota, August 26, 2018

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

August 26, 2018

Touchdown

11:51 PM CDT (04:51 UTC)

Lifted

12:12 AM CDT (05:12 UTC)

On the ground

21 minutes

Path length

25.0 miles (40.3 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Clearwater and Polk counties

Touchdown point

47.620, -95.720

Lift-off point

47.770, -95.230

Record number

1808262251-01

Thunderstorms flared up across southern Cass County (North Dakota) on the afternoon of August 26th, dropping some large hail. After a several hour break, another storm intensified and dropped large hail over north central Becker and southern Mahnomen counties in Minnesota. Then after 8 pm CDT, a line of storms from north central North Dakota spread into the Devils Lake region. These storms produced damaging wind gusts. After 9 pm CDT, another line of storms formed ahead of the Devils Lake line, and these also tracked to the east. This line brought hail and damaging wind gusts to the Valley City and Grand Forks areas. Eventually, both lines of storms moved into the central and northern Red River Valley, then progressed into northwest Minnesota. As they did, they continued to produce damaging winds. Within the lines, several long track tornadoes also formed. Both of these occurred from the northeast corner of Norman County up toward the Lower Red Lake in Minnesota. Quite a bit of tree damage resulted along this track.

This tornado tracked intermittently from 3 miles north-northeast of Fosston to 9 miles north-northeast of Leonard (in Clearwater County), a total of about 26 miles. Hundreds of trees were damaged, uprooted, or snapped along the track. Numerous cabins, farm outbuildings, houses, campers, boats, and crops were also damaged. The tornado was likely wrapped in downburst winds and rain at times.

This storm began 3 miles north-northeast of Fosston (in Polk County) at 1151 pm CDT. This tornado tracked intermittently from 3 miles north-northeast of Fosston to 9 miles north-northeast of Leonard (in Clearwater County), a total of about 26 miles. Hundreds of trees were damaged, uprooted, or snapped along the track. Numerous cabins, farm outbuildings, houses, campers, boats, and crops were also damaged. The tornado was likely wrapped in downburst winds and rain at times.

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:48 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 02:48 UTC and running to 07:32 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:41 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.

Fosston (FSE), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 140 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:53 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 2018 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

2 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.