EF0 tornado, Bowlus, Minnesota, August 14, 2020

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 14, 2020

Touchdown

5:47 PM CDT (22:47 UTC)

Lifted

5:49 PM CDT (22:49 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.3 miles (2.1 km)

Path width

65 yards (59 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Morrison County

Touchdown point

45.776, -94.450

Lift-off point

45.781, -94.424

Record number

2008141647-01

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MPX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 70 mph.

• Beginning of tornado with some corn damage.
• Trees just west of here pushed over as well.
• Trees broken or pushed over
• Trees broken or pushed over by rfd winds.

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

During the afternoon of Friday, August, 14th, thunderstorms developed along a warm front across central Minnesota, with additional development southward in the warm sector by the late afternoon, and early evening. These storms were able to produce many tornadoes, most of which were rated EF-0, but three were rated EF-1. In addition to the tornadoes, there were other reports of downburst wind damage throughout central and southern Minnesota. ||Over a two week period, there were numerous road trips to determine if tornadoes occurred in rural areas. Due to the several storm spotters, emergency managers, and those who had drones to further the investigation, plus individuals recording the brief touchdowns, there were 16 tornadoes that occurred in Chanhassen NWS forecast area. Most of the tornadoes were confined to rural farmland, but there were a few that did damage farms, sheds, and outbuildings.

An NWS survey indicated that an EF-0 tornado tracked over mostly fields and open land, but it did hit some trees, downing large tree branches. Downburst wind damage was noted adjacent to the tornado.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS MPX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:35 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:36 UTC and running to 01:00 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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.

Little Falls (LXL), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 124 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:50 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 2020 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

30 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.