Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2024

EF0 tornado, Hayfield, Minnesota, May 20, 2024

This EF0 tornado ran 1.2 miles across Dodge County on May 20, 2024, touching down at 6:10 PM CDT and reaching 50 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
May 20, 2024
Touchdown
6:10 PM CDT (23:10 UTC)
Lifted
6:15 PM CDT (23:15 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
1.2 miles (1.9 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Dodge County
Touchdown point
43.927, -92.990
Lift-off point
43.938, -92.972
Record number
2405201710-01

What the Weather Service recorded

On May 20th, isolated severe thunderstorms produced large hail up to half dollar size across southeast Minnesota. Additionally, two brief landspout tornadoes occurred in Dodge county during the evening hours.

Brief touchdown in open field. Witnessed by multiple sources and path documented via satellite imagery.

Brief touchdown in open field. Witnessed by multiple sources and path documented via satellite imagery.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:32 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningARX
23:47 UTC05:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchARX
00:13 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningARX
00:31 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningARX
00:53 UTC03:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryARX

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:47 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.

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), 12:00Z

11.2 hours before the tornado, 113 km from the path. May 20, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 2024-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -88729, lifted condensation level 685 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 2024-05-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 52 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 32 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
-88729 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
685 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
52 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
101 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), 00:00Z

0.8 hours after it, 113 km from the path. May 21, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 2024-05-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1078 joules per kilogram, CIN -12, lifted condensation level 1148 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 2024-05-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 43 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1078 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2009 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1148 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
2.4
0-3 km lapse rate
7.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:08 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
23:18 UTCTORNADO5 Ne Blooming PrairieDodge, MNBrief non-supercell tornado reported by spotters and the public.
23:25 UTCTORNADO5 Wnw HayfieldDodge, MNBrief non-supercell tornado reported by spotters and the public.
23:50 UTCHAIL 0.75ByronOlmsted, MNPea to dime size hail.
23:50 UTCHAIL 0.75ByronOlmsted, MNPea to dime size hail.
23:55 UTCHAIL 14 N HayfieldDodge, MN
23:55 UTCHAIL 14 N HayfieldDodge, MN
00:32 UTCHAIL 14 W HayfieldDodge, MNHail covering the ground.
00:32 UTCHAIL 14 W HayfieldDodge, MNHail covering the ground.
00:35 UTCHAIL 1.25HayfieldDodge, MNTime estimated from radar.
00:35 UTCHAIL 1.25HayfieldDodge, MNTime estimated from radar.
00:39 UTCHAIL 1.25Rock DellOlmsted, MNTime estimated from radar.
00:39 UTCHAIL 1.25Rock DellOlmsted, MNTime estimated from radar.
01:20 UTCHAIL 1ZumbrotaGoodhue, MN
02:00 UTCHAIL 0.25AustinMower, MN

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 20, 2024

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 206:25 PM CDTEF0Dodge, MN1.435
May 208:18 PM CDTUnratedShelby, IA0.420

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.