EF2 tornado, Winger to Mc Intosh, Minnesota, June 29, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

June 29, 2018

Touchdown

4:54 AM CDT (09:54 UTC)

Lifted

5:09 AM CDT (10:09 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

15.4 miles (24.7 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$6.5 million

Crop damage

$500,000

County

Polk County

Touchdown point

47.550, -96.020

Lift-off point

47.559, -95.690

Record number

1806290354-01

The early morning hours of Friday, June 29th, remained warm and muggy. Just after midnight, temperatures were still in the 70s with dew points around 70. A line of thunderstorms moved into the Devils Lake area around 2 am CDT. This line of storms had several bowing segments, which are indicative of strong winds. The most obvious bowing segment between highway 2 and Interstate 94, where the most amount of damage occurred. The main bowing segment exited into north central Minnesota around 6 am CDT. Well behind the bowing thunderstorm complex, a mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) formed, and produced another round of widespread damaging winds.

This tornado was likely wrapped in downburst winds and heavy rain for most of its path. It tracked nearly due east at about 60 mph, for at least 15 miles. It tore down trees in shelterbelts and tore roofing off of a couple of homes and farm buildings. It tore down 11 miles, or more than 50 high voltage towers, and snapped wooden power poles at cross roads along its path. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.

This tornado, which was partially wrapped in downburst winds and heavy rain, snapped various trees at a farmstead. After crossing highway 2 roughly two miles east-southeast of the highway 59 intersection, it blew in a large west facing overhead door on a shop and blew out the back wall. Peak winds were estimated at 100 mph.

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

22 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:32 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 03:55 UTC and running to 10:45 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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:59 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), 7 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), 110 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:51 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

6 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.