Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota

2020 tornadoes in Minnesota

59 tornadoes touched down in Minnesota in 2020, 104 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 1 people and injured 2. 1 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

2019 2021 The whole country in 2020

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 2020

May 26 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 26	7:15 PM CDT	EF0	Dakota	0.3	25
May 26	7:25 PM CDT	EF0	Freeborn	0.6	50

June 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 8	7:17 PM CDT	EF1	Marshall	9.0	300			$6,000
June 8	8:45 PM CDT	EF1	Lake of the Woods	1.2	100			$10,000

June 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 9	5:35 PM CDT	EF0	Renville	0.3	25

June 17 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 17	5:33 PM CDT	EF1	Roseau	2.0	300	$5,000
June 17	8:42 PM CDT	EF0	Marshall	0.9	75
June 17	8:49 PM CDT	EF1	Marshall	3.8	400	$5,000
June 17	9:10 PM CDT	EF1	Roseau	1.1	200	$150,000

June 28 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 28	8:37 PM CDT	EF0	Winona	0.7	25			$2,000
June 28	8:54 PM CDT	EF0	Winona	0.6	20			$2,000

July 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 4	6:30 PM CDT	EF0	Marshall	0.1	25

July 8 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 8	4:20 AM CDT	EF1	Wilkin	12.4	200			$550,000
July 8	4:38 AM CDT	EF1	Otter Tail	18.7	250			$750,000
July 8	5:10 AM CDT	EF2	Otter Tail	2.0	300			$200,000
July 8	5:08 PM CDT	EF4	Ashby–Dalton tornado	8.9	650	1	2	$1.6 million
July 8	6:32 PM CDT	EF0	Otter Tail	0.2	20
July 8	7:15 PM CDT	EF0	Crow Wing	7.4	50			$10,000

July 11 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 11	1:06 PM CDT	EF1	Becker	1.5	30			$20,000
July 11	3:09 PM CDT	EF0	Nicollet	2.4	125			$25,000

July 17 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 17	4:54 PM CDT	EF1	Marshall	3.2	150			$350,000
July 17	12:59 AM CDT	EF1	Isanti	3.0	150

July 18 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 18	1:17 AM CDT	EF0	Chisago	1.3	75
July 18	9:42 PM CDT	EF0	Washington	2.9	180
July 18	9:54 PM CDT	EF1	Washington to WI	9.5	400	$100,000

July 25 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 25	2:26 AM CDT	EF0	Clay	0.4	40
July 25	6:31 PM CDT	EF1	Sibley	1.9	50
July 25	6:37 PM CDT	EF0	Sibley	0.2	15

August 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 7	7:30 PM CDT	EF0	Hubbard	0.2	25
August 7	8:05 PM CDT	EF1	Hubbard	6.2	250

August 9 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 9	2:13 PM CDT	EF1	Pennington	22.0	200
August 9	3:20 PM CDT	EF1	Beltrami	0.3	100

August 13 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 13	8:04 PM CDT	EF1	Pennington	2.0	120
August 13	8:44 PM CDT	EF0	Norman	0.1	30

August 14 25 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 14	3:37 PM CDT	EF0	Grant	4.0	50
August 14	3:38 PM CDT	EF0	Grant	0.4	30
August 14	3:39 PM CDT	EF0	Grant	1.0	40
August 14	3:42 PM CDT	EF2	Grant	13.4	150
August 14	3:50 PM CDT	EF1	Grant	1.7	150
August 14	4:17 PM CDT	EF0	Pope	1.2	75	$2,000
August 14	4:34 PM CDT	EF0	Nobles	0.0	10	$10,000
August 14	4:45 PM CDT	EF0	Douglas	0.6	50
August 14	4:53 PM CDT	EF1	Todd	5.9	200	$25,000
August 14	4:57 PM CDT	EF0	Todd	1.1	125	$10,000
August 14	5:37 PM CDT	EF0	Kandiyohi	6.6	50	$100,000
August 14	5:41 PM CDT	EF0	Morrison	5.7	200	$50,000
August 14	5:44 PM CDT	EF0	McLeod	2.2	300	$100,000
August 14	5:45 PM CDT	EF0	Kandiyohi	7.3	85
August 14	5:47 PM CDT	EF0	Morrison	1.3	65
August 14	5:49 PM CDT	EF1	Kandiyohi	3.5	50	$250,000
August 14	5:50 PM CDT	EF1	McLeod	2.4	250	$250,000
August 14	6:09 PM CDT	EF0	Morrison	2.9	150
August 14	6:27 PM CDT	EF0	Meeker	0.9	25
August 14	6:49 PM CDT	EF0	Carver	0.3	75	$50,000
August 14	6:57 PM CDT	EF1	Aitkin	1.5	100
August 14	7:10 PM CDT	EF1	Carlton	2.7	150
August 14	7:12 PM CDT	EF0	Carlton	2.0	100
August 14	7:32 PM CDT	EF0	Hennepin	0.4	65	$1,000
August 14	7:55 PM CDT	EF0	Hennepin	0.4	50	$250,000

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.