EF0 tornado, Hadley to Currie, Minnesota, August 17, 2019

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF0

Date

August 17, 2019

Touchdown

10:59 PM CDT (03:59 UTC)

Lifted

11:01 PM CDT (04:01 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.8 miles (1.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Murray County

Touchdown point

43.907, -95.783

Lift-off point

43.914, -95.771

Record number

1908172159-02

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

• Nearby trees had branches blown off as well
• Old shed flipped to the north
• Roof partially broke off shed
• Trees down in center of shelter belt. Also straps were ripped that secured sheet on building to right.

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

As a strong upper level wave pushed into the western Dakotas during the evening hours, isolated supercellular storms developed across central South Dakota and moved through areas west of the James River. With 2000-2500 J/kg of MLCAPE and deep layer shear of 35 to 45 knots, the isolated storms produced hail up to golf ball size. Soon, an increasing amount of DCAPE of 1000-1250 J/kg and increase in 0-3 km shear with development of a strong low-level jet aided in the transition to enhanced linear structures, which then developed a series of mesovortices as the line moved into far eastern South Dakota, southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa. Several brief tornadoes developed with mesovortices in southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa, along with areas of enhanced wind damage.

The tornado formed around 2 miles west-southwest of Hadley, moving northeast through a farmstead shortly after touchdown and damaging trees and partially removing a roof from a metal outbuilding. After crossing Minnesota Highway 30, the tornado struck another farm, causing destruction of a barn, and resulting in damage to the house including blowing in a door and driving a 2x4 through the siding. The tornado reached Hadley three minutes after touchdown. Two garages were destroyed in town, along with damage to numerous trees. One final structure was grazed by the tornado just northeast of Hadley, blowing in the door and damaging the roof of a metal outbuilding. The tornado lifted around 2 miles northeast of Hadley after crossing 121st Street and damaging a power transmission pole. The average path width was 75 yards.

The tornado touched down a half mile south of Iona near the intersection of 140th Avenue and 41st Street, flattening a path across a corn field. The tornado traveled northeast, and crossed 46th Street just east of Iona. Near the end of its path, the tornado snapped three trees and topped several headstones in a cemetery. The average path width was 40 yards.

The track of this tornado followed generally eastward along 181st Street between 140th and 150th Avenues. The tornado started with a slight south of east track, flattening corn and damaging trees in a shelter belt. The tornado then began to move more eastward, striking and destroying an old barn around a quarter mile from the touchdown point. The remainder of the track was across cornfields, crossing north of 181st Street before lifting. The average path width was 40 yards.

This brief tornado touched down around a mile south of Lake Sarah in an open corn field, leaving a discernible track. Two small outbuildings were damaged as the tornado moved to the northeast, with mainly minor damage to metal roofing panels. The tornado crossed U.S. Highway 59, turning a bit more northward in track before damaging the final farm outbuilding and lifting shortly thereafter. The average path width was 30 yards.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:17 UTC and running to 04:48 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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 Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:57 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 2019 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.