Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota

2019 tornadoes in Minnesota

52 tornadoes touched down in Minnesota in 2019, 80 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2018 2020 The whole country in 2019

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.

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 2019

May 24 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 24	7:22 PM CDT	EF0	Mahnomen	6.6	200
May 24	7:30 PM CDT	EF1	Mahnomen	3.5	200

May 27 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 27	12:07 PM CDT	EF0	Freeborn	0.6	50
May 27	1:23 PM CDT	EF0	Fillmore	0.2	25	$15,000
May 27	1:29 PM CDT	EF0	Fillmore	0.2	15	$5,000
May 27	1:40 PM CDT	EF0	Fillmore	0.2	25	$20,000

June 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 4	5:48 PM CDT	EF1	Olmsted	1.3	75			$40,000

June 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 8	7:34 PM CDT	EF2	Polk	3.6	400

June 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 11	4:19 PM CDT	EF0	Pipestone	0.1	10

June 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 17	3:52 PM CDT	EF0	Steele	0.0	30

June 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 18	2:45 PM CDT	Unrated	Cook	0.1	5

June 20 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 20	5:18 PM CDT	EF1	Redwood	5.4	550
June 20	6:27 PM CDT	EF0	Brown	2.0	50	$50,000
June 20	6:42 PM CDT	EF0	Watonwan	0.5	30

July 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 1	5:05 PM CDT	EF0	Freeborn	0.0	25

July 5 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 5	5:45 PM CDT	EF0	Sibley	0.2	25
July 5	7:40 PM CDT	EF0	Le Sueur	0.1	25

July 9 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 9	5:57 PM CDT	EF1	Wilkin	2.0	100
July 9	5:58 PM CDT	EF0	Clay	0.5	75
July 9	6:20 PM CDT	EF1	Wilkin	0.9	150
July 9	6:30 PM CDT	EF0	Clay	3.0	150
July 9	6:45 PM CDT	EF1	Otter Tail	2.0	150

July 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 15	7:04 PM CDT	EF0	Scott	0.3	100			$150,000

July 17 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 17	4:05 PM CDT	EF0	Beltrami	0.3	25
July 17	4:40 PM CDT	EF1	Lake of the Woods	15.0	100
July 17	7:49 PM CDT	EF1	Saint Louis	3.4	600
July 17	8:01 PM CDT	EF1	Saint Louis	5.7	420
July 17	8:23 PM CDT	EF0	Saint Louis	5.7	500

July 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 18	10:33 PM CDT	EF0	Winona	0.3	20			$15,000

July 28 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 28	3:17 PM CDT	EF0	McLeod	4.0	200
July 28	3:32 PM CDT	EF0	McLeod	0.3	25
July 28	3:36 PM CDT	EF1	McLeod	2.6	440
July 28	4:28 PM CDT	EF1	Washington	8.2	440	$2.0 million

August 10 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 10	6:06 PM CDT	EF0	Cottonwood	1.4	50
August 10	6:36 PM CDT	EF0	Martin	0.0	25

August 13 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 13	2:25 PM CDT	EF0	Otter Tail	0.3	100
August 13	4:24 PM CDT	EF0	Steele	5.9	25	$1,000
August 13	5:03 PM CDT	EF0	Dakota	0.3	25

August 17 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 17	10:54 PM CDT	EF1	Murray	3.9	75	$200,000
August 17	10:59 PM CDT	EF0	Nobles	4.0	40	$10,000
August 17	10:59 PM CDT	EF0	Murray	0.8	50
August 17	11:08 PM CDT	EF0	Murray	0.9	50	$25,000
August 17	11:14 PM CDT	EF0	Murray	1.1	50	$50,000
August 17	11:25 PM CDT	EF0	Cottonwood	0.5	20

August 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 26	6:43 PM CDT	EF0	Mille Lacs	3.0	50	$15,000
August 26	7:05 PM CDT	EF0	Aitkin	1.8	30
August 26	7:39 PM CDT	EF1	Mille Lacs	2.3	50	$200,000

September 2 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 2	9:47 PM CDT	EF1	Wright	1.0	90			$250,000
September 2	10:08 PM CDT	EF1	Carver	3.9	210			$275,000

September 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 11	6:22 AM CDT	EF1	Winona	0.2	80			$175,000

September 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 21	5:01 PM CDT	EF0	Kanabec	1.2	80

September 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 24	7:58 PM CDT	EF0	Wabasha	1.1	35			$250,000

Crossed into Minnesota

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

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 27	1:49 PM CDT	EF0	Howard, IA to MN	6.2	30			$202,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Minnesota since 1950 Warnings in force in Minnesota The 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.