Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2022

EF1 tornado, Correll to Artichoke, Minnesota, May 30, 2022

Name: EF1 tornado, Correll to Artichoke, Minnesota, May 30, 2022
Start: 2022-05-30T20:36:00.000Z
End: 2022-05-30T20:38:00.000Z
Location: Correll to Artichoke, Minnesota

From Correll to Artichoke, this EF1 tornado ran 2.4 miles across Big Stone County on May 30, 2022, touching down at 3:36 PM CDT and reaching 30 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: May 30, 2022
Touchdown: 3:36 PM CDT (20:36 UTC)
Lifted: 3:38 PM CDT (20:38 UTC)
On the ground: 2 minutes
Path length: 2.4 miles (3.9 km)
Path width: 30 yards (27 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Big Stone County
Touchdown point: 45.298, -96.144
Lift-off point: 45.333, -96.141
Record number: 2205301436-01

The damage survey

13 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ABR and NWS MPX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

Debris carried well to the northeast (maybe half mile).
Pole barn destroyed and many trees uprooted.
About 100 ft wide tree damage path.
Definite convergent damage in trees on west side of 59. Every building on the farm had some damage. A window in the house was blown out.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

Supercell storms in northeast South Dakota moved into west central Minnesota during the mid-day hours, producing an EF1 tornado by Artichoke Lake, ping pong sized hail in rural Traverse county and winds of 60 mph near Graceville. Heavy rain was also associated with the system with COOP observers measuring 3.78 inches in Wheaton and 2.42 inches in Browns Valley. The heavy rain associated with this system produced flooding in rural areas of Big Stone and Traverse counties.

A storm chaser documented the brief tornado touchdown. Two farmsteads were damaged. The first farm was located near 410th St and 590th Ave. This farm exhibited a clear track through trees on the property, the house had shingle damage and damage occurred to small outbuildings. Roughly three quarters of a mile to the north, near 400th St, the second property was damaged. This property had a grain bin swept off the base, complete destruction of machine shed, shingle damage to the home and a clear path of mangled trees.

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

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Aberdeen, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 30, 1:44 PM CDT, 1 hour 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 30, 1:44 PM CDT, 1 hour 52 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED
National Weather Service Aberdeen SD
144 PM CDT Mon May 30 2022

.UPDATE...
Issued at 133 PM CDT Mon May 30 2022

The aviation discussion below has been updated for the 18Z TAFS.

Main concern for the remainder of today will be the afternoon
severe convection. The overall forecast has been panning out
decently so no major changes were needed. We'll just be tracking
severe thunderstorms that could perhaps linger in our far eastern
zones into early evening. The other concern would be locally heavy
rainfall across parts of northeast South Dakota. Rainfall rates of
1-3"/hr with locally higher amounts will be possible. Some
scattered flash flooding will remain possible into this evening. A
Flood Watch has been posted for our northeast South Dakota
counties.

UPDATE Issued at 629 AM CDT Mon May 30 2022

See the updated aviation discussion below.

&&

.SHORT TERM...(Today and Tonight)
Issued at 432 AM CDT Mon May 30 2022

The overnight MCV continues to gradually track out of the area this
morning. The overall severe threat continues to diminish with time.
Still monitoring precipitation amounts over the next few hours
however. Portions of the southeast CWA have QPEs running around 2 to
2.5 inches. Flooding threat overall is low, but worth watching.

Attention then turns to the severe weather threat for this
afternoon. Still expecting the development of the potent closed low
system which quickly tracks into the northern plains. A strong jet
rounding the base of the low will help support impressive amounts of
bulk shear. In fact 0-6km bulk shear values are topping out over 70
kts. Which does introduce the question as to whether or not the
shear will be too strong relative to the cold pool to sustain
supercellular storms. ML CAPE values are still progged in the 1000-
2000 J/KG east of the surface trough by the early afternoon hours.
Also impressive low level shear with a southeast to east surface
wind resulting in favorable curved hodographs. Despite strong shear,
current thinking is the overall setup should support supercellular
development, but could also evolve into a line of storms with time.
All severe threats are possible, including tornadoes and the SPC
moderate risk has been expanded to cover more of our northeastern
CWA. This includes a 15% hatched tornado probability. While left
over convective debris could have some influence on instability
today, not currently thinking it will be a deal breaker. With the
strong forcing storms may initiate as soon as 18Z.

The system quickly moves northeast by this evening placing us on the
cool side/right pressure gradient of the low. Additional showers and
thunderstorms are likely and gusty northwest winds are expected,
along with much cooler temperatures.

.LONG TERM...(Tuesday through Sunday)
Issued at 432 AM CDT Mon May 30 2022

Upper low cut off in southern Canada means more or less zonal
steering flow with some weak troughiness over the area, but for the
most part the result is mostly dry conditions with slightly below
normal temperatures and off and on breezy days - so otherwise it
should be uneventful for much of the remainder of the work week.

&&

.AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Tuesday Afternoon)
Issued at 133 PM CDT Mon May 30 2022

Terminals KABR,KATY,KPIR,KMBG

Strong low pressure system will continue moving through the area
this afternoon and evening. Strong to severe thunderstorms can be
anticipated through late afternoon into the very early evening for
KABR/KATY. MVFR cigs are expected at all terminals associated with
the precipitation. IFR vsby's can be anticipated in the stronger
storms at KABR/KATY through late afternoon. The thunder is
expected to move out of the area this evening and all terminals
could see lingering showers into the late evening or early
overnight. IFR cigs are anticipated to set in at all terminals by
the end of this TAF valid period.

&&

.ABR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
SD...Flood Watch until 10 PM CDT this evening for SDZ007-008-011-
     019>023.

MN...None.
&&

UPDATE...Vipond
SHORT TERM...Serr
LONG TERM...Connelly
AVIATION...Vipond

Hazardous weather outlook, May 30, 4:40 AM CDT, 10 hours 56 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Aberdeen SD
440 AM CDT Mon May 30 2022

MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-310945-
Traverse-Big Stone-Corson-Campbell-McPherson-Brown-Marshall-Roberts-
Walworth-Edmunds-Day-Dewey-Potter-Faulk-Spink-Clark-Codington-Grant-
Hamlin-Deuel-Stanley-Sully-Hughes-Hyde-Hand-Jones-Lyman-Buffalo-
440 AM CDT Mon May 30 2022 /340 AM MDT Mon May 30 2022/

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for west central Minnesota,
central South Dakota, north central South Dakota and northeast
South Dakota.

.DAY ONE...Today and tonight.

A significant severe storm threat exists today, especially along and
east of the James River Valley. Storms will likely develop by early
afternoon and pose a severe threat through through mid to late
afternoon. Supercells and all forms of severe weather can be
expected. This includes hail larger than golf balls, winds in excess
of 70 mph and multiple tornadoes. Storms will be moving very fast.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday.

No hazardous weather is expected at this time.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation will be needed today. Weather spotters are
encouraged to submit reports to the National Weather Service in
Aberdeen. The public can submit reports on our web page, Facebook
page, or our Twitter feed.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 30, 2:43 PM CDT, 53 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
243 PM CDT MON MAY 30 2022

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0237 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     1 SSW ESTELLINE         44.56N 96.91W
05/30/2022                   HAMLIN             SD   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

Local storm report, May 30, 2:46 PM CDT, 50 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
246 PM CDT MON MAY 30 2022

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0245 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     2 NE ESTELLINE          44.59N 96.87W
05/30/2022                   DEUEL              SD   TRAINED SPOTTER

            NEAR 184TH AND 466TH AVE.

&&

Local storm report, May 30, 2:49 PM CDT, 47 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
249 PM CDT MON MAY 30 2022

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0220 PM     FLASH FLOOD      1 NW WATERTOWN          44.91N 97.12W
05/30/2022                   CODINGTON          SD   PUBLIC

            SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT OF WATER COVERING THE
            ROAD NORTH OF THE HOSPITAL.

&&

SD

Local storm report, May 30, 3:04 PM CDT, 32 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
304 PM CDT MON MAY 30 2022

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0258 PM     HAIL             8 NE CORONA             45.41N 96.62W
05/30/2022  E1.00 INCH       ROBERTS            SD   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

SD

Local storm report, May 30, 3:29 PM CDT, 7 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
329 PM CDT MON MAY 30 2022

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0256 PM     NON-TSTM WND GST TUNERVILLE              44.89N 96.68W
05/30/2022  M66 MPH          DEUEL              SD   MESONET

            MESONET STATION 291 4N ALTAMONT (SDDOT).

&&

Local storm report, May 30, 3:36 PM CDT, 0 minutes before

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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.

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 12:00Z

8.6 hours before the tornado, 183 km from the path. May 30, 2022.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -85305 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 942 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 104 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), 00:00Z

3.4 hours after it, 183 km from the path. May 31, 2022.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 202 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 899 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 652 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 6 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 41 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Appleton Municip (AQP), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 178 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:36 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2022 tornado in Minnesota Every tornado in Minnesota since 1950 Warnings in force in Minnesota now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 30, 2022

36 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 30	1:20 AM CDT	EF1	Cedar, NE	3.0	100
May 30	1:51 AM CDT	EF1	Minnehaha, SD	0.5	50
May 30	2:05 AM CDT	EF1	Minnehaha, SD	0.5	50
May 30	2:17 AM CDT	EF1	Lyon, IA	1.9	100
May 30	2:21 AM CDT	EF0	Lyon, IA	0.5	60
May 30	2:33 AM CDT	EF0	Nobles, MN	0.9	50
May 30	12:29 PM CDT	Unrated	Bon Homme, SD	5.5	50
May 30	1:55 PM CDT	Unrated	McCook, SD	0.8	25
May 30	2:15 PM CDT	Unrated	Brookings, SD	1.7	50
May 30	2:23 PM CDT	EF1	Brookings, SD	0.8	50
May 30	2:30 PM CDT	EF0	Hamlin, SD	0.7	10
May 30	2:41 PM CDT	EF2	Deuel, SD	12.4	150
May 30	2:46 PM CDT	EF3	Deuel, SD	13.3	100
May 30	2:50 PM CDT	EF1	Deuel, SD	0.4	20
May 30	3:05 PM CDT	EF1	Grant, SD	10.7	40
May 30	3:10 PM CDT	EF1	Grant, SD	4.5	20
May 30	3:15 PM CDT	Unrated	Rock, MN	0.7	20
May 30	3:25 PM CDT	Unrated	Pipestone, MN	0.4	20
May 30	3:39 PM CDT	EF1	Swift, MN	1.8	100
May 30	3:40 PM CDT	EF1	Swift, MN	18.3	350
May 30	3:49 PM CDT	EF1	Swift, MN	7.2	100
May 30	4:04 PM CDT	EF1	Pope, MN	5.4	100
May 30	4:13 PM CDT	EF1	Pope, MN	3.2	200
May 30	4:14 PM CDT	EF2	Grant, MN	6.8	350	$2.0 million
May 30	4:15 PM CDT	EF2	Grant, MN	11.0	400	$1.0 million
May 30	4:27 PM CDT	EF2	Pope, MN	19.6	800
May 30	4:34 PM CDT	EF1	Otter Tail, MN	4.5	200	$50,000
May 30	4:58 PM CDT	EF1	Otter Tail, MN	5.4	300	$150,000
May 30	5:00 PM CDT	EF1	Todd, MN	15.0	800
May 30	5:20 PM CDT	EF2	Wadena, MN	10.5	450	$1.1 million
May 30	5:27 PM CDT	EF1	Wadena, MN	2.5	150	$50,000
May 30	5:37 PM CDT	EF1	Cass, MN	4.3	500
May 30	6:12 PM CDT	EF1	McLeod, MN	18.5	400
May 30	6:44 PM CDT	EF0	Itasca, MN	1.0	40
May 30	6:46 PM CDT	EF1	Itasca, MN	2.5	150
May 30	7:50 PM CDT	EF1	Pine, MN	3.3	300

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.