EF0 tornado, Dumont to Charlesville, Minnesota, May 12, 2022

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

May 12, 2022

Touchdown

6:59 PM CDT (23:59 UTC)

Lifted

7:03 PM CDT (00:03 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

4.4 miles (7.1 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Traverse County

Touchdown point

45.843, -96.266

Lift-off point

45.906, -96.254

Record number

2205121759-01

12 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ABR, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• Most 2x4 wood planks were deposited due east of the shed, whereas the sheet metal was thrown over a quarter mile to the northeast.
• Wooden plank to the north-northeast of the shed was stuck firmly in ground, pointing southeast into the ground.
• Close-up view of the bolts at the base of the silos.
• Multiple empty silos were blown completely off their foundations and destroyed. Picture facing due north.

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

A derecho developed in south central South Dakota and traveled northeast into western Minnesota. This thunderstorm complex generated 2 confirmed tornadoes across Big Stone and Traverse Counties, and produced a broad area of widespread and destructive straight-line winds in excess of 80 mph. Trees, buildings, power lines, grain bins, semi trucks, and other property was damaged or destroyed across west central Minnesota, and power outages lasted for multiple days in some cases.

A tornado developed 6 miles east of Dumont on the leading edge of|a line of severe thunderstorms, and then traveled quickly|northeast. An outbuilding took heavy damage, with debris strewn|northeast over half a mile. The majority of the 2x4 planks were|deposited directly to the east of the shed, while another single|2x4 was lodged into the ground at an angle not consistent with|straight-line winds. The tornado then destroyed several mostly|empty grain bins. Some tin from the property was thrown due west|into the trees.

A tornado developed 11 miles east of Wheaton along the leading|edge of a line severe thunderstorms. This tornado traveled|rapidly north-northeastward and impacted three farmsteads.|Several trees were uprooted and felled in different directions,|outbuildings were severely damaged, and both homes were damaged|as well including the partial removal of a garage roof. The|tornado continued northeast to right near the Grant County line,|and impacted another farmstead. Silo damage, trees felled in|different directions, and a small outbuilding was moved 10 yards|to the northwest.

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

35 minutes of warning. NWS ABR issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:24 UTC, 35 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:36 UTC and running to 02:06 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 Moderate 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.

Elbow Lake (Y63), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 174 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:56 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

31 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.