EF1 tornado, Lime Creek to Storden, Minnesota, May 11, 2022

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

May 11, 2022

Touchdown

5:33 PM CDT (22:33 UTC)

Lifted

5:37 PM CDT (22:37 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

3.5 miles (5.6 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Crop damage

$1,000

Counties

Murray and Cottonwood counties

Touchdown point

43.914, -95.504

Lift-off point

43.952, -95.458

Record number

2205111633-01

14 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 90 mph.

• North end of barn blown out. South side doors intact. Debris scattered to the northeast about 1/4 mile. No other noticeable damage.
• 20x60 cattle barn lofted to the north. Open to the south.no noticeable tree damage.
• Two corn cribs lofted onto bins. Old collapsed shed, but not sure if it’s storm related. Also snapped pine.
• Part of hoop barn blown out. Damage to fencing. Some roof damage to home. Debris to the northeast.

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

A cluster of early morning storms developed on the nose of steeper mid-level lapse rates and marginally strong elevated wind shear across far southeast South Dakota. Multicell convection produced spotty large hail moving into southwest Minnesota. During the afternoon, convection re-ignited near an advancing mesoscale convective vortex and moved northeast from eastern Nebraska into southwest Minnesota. With greater surface-based instability with a MLCAPE of 2000-3000 J/kg and deep-layer shear of 40-50 knots, storms quickly organized into a QLCS structure and produced hail up to ping-pong ball size, wind to 90 mph, and a few tornadoes across southwest Minnesota. Presidential Disaster Declarations were granted to Cottonwood and Nobles Counties for damages to public infrastructure.

A tornado spun up just west of 280th Avenue around one-half mile south of 51st Street, where several tree limbs were broken in a tree line. The tornado tracked northeast across the Des Moines River where more limbs were downed into the river near 290th Avenue. As the tornado took a slightly more north-northeast turn for about one-third mile, the most significant damage occurred at a farmstead where one silo was toppled and another damaged, along with numerous downed tree limbs. The tornado continued more northeastward for around one mile where it damaged the north end of a barn and spread debris around one-quarter mile to the northeast into Cottonwood County. The tornado continued in Cottonwood County for less than one-third mile before dissipating at 1637CST. The tornado was rated EF1 while in Murray County, and EFU in Cottonwood County. The estimated maximum wind speed was 90 mph and the average path width in Murray County was 50 yards.

This tornado formed 5 miles east-northeast of Fulda in Murray County, and entered Cottonwood County around 6 miles south-southwest of Westbrook. The tornado tracked northeast over open fields for less than a minute before dissipating. While in Murray County, it was rated EF1, but was rated EFU in Cottonwood County. Average path width in Cottonwood County was 50 yards.

A video showed a weak tornado briefly touching down in an open field. The tornado caused no damage from which the NWS could assign an EF-scale rating.

A tornado spun up around one mile west-southwest of Storden just southeast of the intersection of State Highway 30 and 370th Avenue. The tornado tracked northeast and crossed a slough where grasses exhibited a convergent pattern. The tornado then moved into the northwest edge of Storden where it destroyed a 500,000 bushel commercial grain bin and tossed the debris onto an adjacent office structure. The tornado lifted before reaching County Road 5. The estimated maximum wind speed was 95 mph and the average path width was 50 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 tornado watch, issued at 18:19 UTC and running to 00:04 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 0.10 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.

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 107 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:31 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 2022 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.