EF1 tornado, Cohasset to Deer River Arpt, Minnesota, May 30, 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 30, 2022

Touchdown

6:46 PM CDT (23:46 UTC)

Lifted

6:50 PM CDT (23:50 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

2.5 miles (4.0 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Itasca County

Touchdown point

47.330, -93.790

Lift-off point

47.370, -93.810

Record number

2205301746-01

21 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DLH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 107 mph.

• Large window glass all broken. Part of the facade collapsed. Roof lift evidence.
• RV tossed across Highway 2/Main Ave from parking lot south of the road.
• Small metal shed in middle of parking lot completely destroyed. Did not appear to be connected to surface in anyway so going on lower bound of wind estimate.
• Evidence of complete lift of roof on Funeral Home/Post Office/Apartment building.

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

A strong area of low pressure across the Northern Plains lifted a warm front across the Northland on Memorial Day morning. Showers and storms moved through during the morning hours with the atmosphere recovering during the afternoon hours. A few of the storms were severe during the morning and produced small hail and tree damage. An arc of thunderstorms developed across southwestern Minnesota and adjacent areas of Nebraska, South Dakota and Iowa by the mid-afternoon hours and moved to the northeast and across the Northland for the late afternoon and evening hours. These storms were much stronger and contained very strong winds that produced widespread damage across the region. Additionally, there were a few embedded tornadoes with the storms with the strongest tornadoes producing EF-1 damage in the Deer River and Hinckley areas.

A brief tornado started near the intersection of County Road 63 and Becker road. The tornado tracked north-northeast, sporadically knocking down trees along the way. While the tree damage was not as significant as other storms on this day, drone imagery provided by a spotter depicted a very clearly convergent signature in the tree damage. The most significant damage from this tornado was the partial lifting off of a roof from a two story home, though no broken windows were noted and |otherwise shingle damage appeared very minor. Sporadic tree damage continued in a path to the north towards the Mississippi River where the damage path appeared to end. Peak winds were estimated to be 85 mph.

A tornado produced a path of damage through the city of Deer River, with damage to numerous homes and businesses. The tornado likely began somewhere just south of Highway 2, though a precise location was difficult to determine due to a lack of |damage. The first damage observed was a camper/RV that was in a parking lot south of Highway 2 which was tossed across the highway into the parking lot of a furniture store building just north of the highway. The furniture store building had all of its south |facing windows blown out with damage to the front facade and some evidence of roof lift on the flat portion of the roof. The building also lost part of a gabled metal roof. A metal shed/outbuilding in the parking lot was completely destroyed. To the north, a two story building that includes a funeral home and post office had evidence of roof lift. Continuing north through the residential streets numerous trees were downed and several outbuildings - sheds and garage buildings - sustained significant damage, with some collapsing and others sliding off their foundations. This damage continued north- northwest, crossing state highway 6 around 7th Ave. Damage to the ball fields north of|town are believed to be part of the tornado���s path, with a small outbuilding and dugouts being destroyed and damage sustained to the metal chain link fence. Tree damage continued onto private property to the northwest, with the end of the tornado path estimated to be near or just south of County Road 142. Peak winds were estimated to be 107 mph.

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS DLH issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:36 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:43 UTC and running to 02:15 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, 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.

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.

Grand Rapids (GPZ), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 133 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:48 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

36 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.