Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2022
EF1 tornado, Fossum to Faith, Minnesota, June 20, 2022
From Fossum to Faith, this EF1 tornado ran 4.9 miles across Norman County on June 20, 2022, touching down at 7:17 PM CDT and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody.
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 mphthis tornado
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.
The record
- Rating
- EF1
- Date
- June 20, 2022
- Touchdown
- 7:17 PM CDT (00:17 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:23 PM CDT (00:23 UTC)
- On the ground
- 6 minutes
- Path length
- 4.9 miles (7.8 km)
- Path width
- 150 yards (137 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Norman County
- Touchdown point
- 47.220, -96.200
- Lift-off point
- 47.269, -96.126
- Record number
- 2206201817-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms formed during the afternoon, moving across the southern and central portions of the Red River Valley, then into west-central and northwest Minnesota. Wind gusts to 85 mph were reported, along with 2 tornadoes, and numerous other reports of hail and high wind damage.
The tornado was likely wrapped in downburst winds and rain as it tracked for roughly 4 miles to the northeast and ended around 6.5 east of twin valley by 723 pm CDT. The tornado track was marked by patches of snapped poplar and ash trees. Peak winds were estimated to 90 mph, with a maximum width to 150 yards. Time estimated based on radar.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
2 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:15 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:39 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:20 UTC and running to 01:50 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:20 UTC | 01:50 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | FGF |
| 20:20 UTC | 21:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF |
| 20:56 UTC | 21:28 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF |
| 23:26 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF |
| 00:04 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF |
| 00:15 UTC | 00:39 UTC | Tornado Warning | FGF |
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 forecast that day
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 19:51 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 air that afternoon
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.
International Fa, MN (KINL), 00:00Z
0.3 hours before the tornado, 259 km from the path. June 21, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2140 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -19 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3732 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1648 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 18 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 10 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 31 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 94 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 7.7 K/km
International Fa, MN (KINL), 12:00Z
11.7 hours after it, 259 km from the path. June 21, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -400 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 19 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 827 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 46 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 20 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 131 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 167 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.5 K/km
The surface observations
Mahnomen (3N8), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:35 UTC | 74.3 | 71 | 330° 7 kt | 1005.8 | -VCTSRA | |
| 22:55 UTC | 74.7 | 73 | 280° 6 kt | 1005.8 | ||
| 23:15 UTC | 76 | 73.6 | 350° 8 kt | 1005.4 | ||
| 23:35 UTC | 74.5 | 73.4 | 360° 9 kt | 1005.4 | ||
| 23:55 UTC | 76 | 72.5 | 10° 7 kt | 1005.8 | ||
| 00:15 UTC | 75.6 | 73 | 340° 12 kt | 1005.8 | VCTS | |
| 00:35 UTC | 73.8 | 70.2 | 340° 18 kt | 26 | 1005.4 | VCTS |
| 00:55 UTC | 69 | 69 | 310° 19 kt | 37 | 1007.8 | -VCTSRA |
| 01:15 UTC | 69.8 | 69 | 350° 16 kt | 21 | 1006.4 | VCTS |
| 01:35 UTC | 70 | 69 | 40° 16 kt | 21 | 1006.4 | |
| 01:55 UTC | 69.8 | 66.7 | 40° 13 kt | 1006.4 | ||
| 02:15 UTC | 69.8 | 65.3 | 40° 9 kt | 1006.4 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:17 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:37 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Naytahwaush | Mahnomen, MN | PHOTO AND REPORT POSTED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 23:45 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | 3 Sse Moorhead | Clay, MN | |
| 23:45 UTC | TSTM WND GST 69 | 4 Sse Dilworth | Clay, MN | PEAK WIND MEASURED AT AN MNDOT RWIS STATION ALONG INTERSTATE 94. |
| 23:45 UTC | TSTM WND GST 72 | 2 Ne Sabin | Clay, MN | PEAK WIND MEASURED AT AN NDAWN STATION AT 3 METERS. |
| 23:45 UTC | TSTM WND GST 72 | 2 Ne Sabin | Clay, MN | PEAK WIND MEASURED AT AN NDAWN STATION AT 3 METERS. RURAL RESIDENTS OF ELMWOOD TOWNSHIP REPORT SOME TREE BRANCHES DOWN. LOTS OF DUST BLEW THROUGH. |
| 23:47 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 N Dilworth | Clay, MN | CROP AT TREE DAMAGE APPARENT ACROSS SOUTHEAST OAKPORT AND SOUTHWESTERN MOLAND TOWNSHIPS. SMALL HAIL AND WINDS ESTIMATED TO 75 MPH. NUMEROUS LARGE BRANCHES BROKEN DOWN, A FEW MATURE BOX ELDER AND ASH TREES UPROOTED. TIME |
| 23:49 UTC | TSTM WND GST 59 | 1 Se Glyndon | Clay, MN | PEAK WIND MEASURED AT AN NDAWN STATION AT 3 METERS. |
| 23:51 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 3 Ese Glyndon | Clay, MN | VIDEO SHOWS A BRIEF TORNADO FORMED ALONG A GUST FRONT. THE TORNADO TRACKED EASTWARD THROUGH AN OPEN FIELD WEST OF THE BUFFALO RIVER STATE PARK FOR ROUGHLY A MILE, ENDING ABOUT 4 WEST OF MUSKODA BY 652 PM CDT. MAXIMUM WIN |
| 23:53 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ene Glyndon | Clay, MN | THE FRAME OF A HOME UNDER CONSTRUCTION COLLAPSED. |
| 23:58 UTC | TSTM WND GST 68 | 4 Ese Moorhead | Clay, MN | PEAK WIND MEASURED AT THE MOORHEAD AIRPORT /KJKJ/. |
| 00:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Hitterdal | Clay, MN | SEVERAL LARGE ASH AND COTTONWOOD TREES SNAPPED. POWER LINES DOWN. |
| 00:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Lake Park | Becker, MN | ROOFING MATERIAL TORN OFF MULTIPLE BUILDINGS BETWEEN LAKE PARK AND AUDUBON BETWEEN 715 AND 720 PM CDT. NUMEROUS LARGE TREE BRANCHES DOWN. |
| 00:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Lake Park | Becker, MN | ROOFING MATERIAL TORN OFF MULTIPLE BUILDINGS BETWEEN LAKE PARK AND AUDUBON BETWEEN 715 AND 720 PM CDT. NUMEROUS LARGE TREE BRANCHES DOWN. A FEW TREES UPROOTED. |
| 00:15 UTC | TSTM WND GST 57 | 1 Sw Lake Park | Becker, MN | PEAK WIND MEASURED AT A MNDOT RWIS STATION ON HIGHWAY 10. |
| 00:17 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 4 Se Twin Valley | Norman, MN | THE TORNADO WAS LIKELY WRAPPED IN DOWNBURST WINDS AND RAIN AS IT TRACKED FOR ROUGHLY 4 MILES TO THE NORTHEAST AND ENDED AROUND 6.5 EAST OF TWIN VALLEY BY 723 PM CDT. THE TORNADO TRACK WAS MARKED BY PATCHES OF SNAPPED POP |
| 00:20 UTC | TSTM WND GST 57 | Lake Park | Becker, MN | LAKE PARK RWIS REPORTED 57 MPH WIND GUST. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 20, 2022
5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.