EF1 tornado, Rolsberg to Dumont, Minnesota, October 13, 2021

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

October 13, 2021

Touchdown

4:18 PM CDT (21:18 UTC)

Lifted

4:24 PM CDT (21:24 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

2.8 miles (4.5 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Traverse County

Touchdown point

45.935, -96.552

Lift-off point

45.975, -96.556

Record number

2110131518-01

A line of October thunderstorms along a front produced rare tornadoes in west central Minnesota during the afternoon hours resulting in damage.

The first evidence of damage by the tornado was found on the south side of a cornfield at the intersection of Traverse County Highway 9 and 740th St. The tornado tracked almost due north, damaging a farmstead south of the 750th St. A quarter of the roof of a metal pole barn was ripped from the steel rafters and tossed to the west-northwest, damaging a power line. Another pole barn was completely destroyed. The southwest side of the barn had poles lifted entirely out of the ground while the east side walls remained intact. Evidence of the tornado continued a mile north, where downed tree branches and tree debris were noted crossing 760th street. The last signs of the tornado damage were just south of 770th street, where a grain auger and hay trailer were flipped over. The total length was shy of three miles from beginning to end.

An eyewitness observed a tornado touch down in a corn stubble field east of MN Highway 27 and 760th Ave. The tornado tracked north across MN Highway 27, damaging a farmstead. A tree was uprooted and fell toward the house, damaging the deck. Minor shingle damage occurred to both houses on the property. Several farm implements were slid or moved several feet from their original locations. A large machine shed lost a quarter of the roof. Debris from the roof was tossed to the north, northwest about 80 yards. Damage was also evident in a corn crop field north of the farm, ending roughly a half-mile-long path.

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

28 minutes of warning. NWS ABR issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:50 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:30 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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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.

Wheaton Ndb (ETH), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 155 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:18 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 2021 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

12 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.