Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2025

EF0 tornado, Zumbro Falls to Lake City, Minnesota, June 25, 2025

From Zumbro Falls to Lake City, this EF0 tornado ran 2.7 miles across Wabasha County on June 25, 2025, touching down at 6:02 PM CDT and reaching 20 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
June 25, 2025
Touchdown
6:02 PM CDT (23:02 UTC)
Lifted
6:08 PM CDT (23:08 UTC)
On the ground
6 minutes
Path length
2.7 miles (4.3 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Wabasha County
Touchdown point
44.360, -92.300
Lift-off point
44.380, -92.260
Record number
2506251702-01

The damage survey

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

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

During the evening hours on June 25th, an outbreak of weak tornadoes occurred across southeast Minnesota which resulted in 6 tornadoes in this portion of the state. These tornadoes were weak and short-lived but did produce localized swaths of tree damage. Two tornadoes also caused minor structural damage in both Houston and Wabasha counties.

This tornado touched down north of Zumbro Falls and ripped the roof off a mobile home residence, also damaging nearby and heavily damaging a barn on 363rd Avenue. It continued for another 1.5 miles northeast across mostly rural areas and causing sporadic tree damage before dissipating.

This very weak tornado was documented by multiple individuals with the path being derived from one that captured the full lifespan of the tornado. The tornado went through a grove of trees with little to no apparent damage.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:59 UTC and running to 00:13 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:03 UTC01:37 UTCFlood WatchARX
19:59 UTC00:13 UTCTornado WatchARX

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 0.05 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 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

11.0 hours before the tornado, 117 km from the path. June 25, 2025.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 2025-06-25Temperature 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 -102513, lifted condensation level 1352 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2025-06-25The 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 59 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 17 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-102513 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1352 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
115 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), 00:00Z

1.0 hours after it, 117 km from the path. June 26, 2025.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 2025-06-26Temperature 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 -91978, lifted condensation level 561 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2025-06-26The 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 62 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 42 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
-91978 J/kg
Surface CAPE
8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
561 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
57 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:04 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
22:51 UTCTORNADO3 Nne Zumbro FallsWabasha, MNEF-1. This brief tornado ripped the roof off a mobile home residence, damaged nearby trees, knocked farming implements on their side, and heavily damaged a barn on 363rd Ave. It weakened as it continued northeast across
22:52 UTCTORNADO4 Nne Zumbro FallsWabasha, MNSpotter reported tornado on the ground looking north from CR 17 and Hwy 65.
23:13 UTCTORNADO3 S Lake CityWabasha, MNVideo relayed via social media of a tornado on the ground south of Lake City.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2025 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 25, 2025

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 253:39 PM CDTEF0Faribault, MN1.825
June 253:43 PM CDTEF0Freeborn, MN1.525
June 253:49 PM CDTEF0Freeborn, MN3.325
June 254:15 PM CDTEF0Freeborn, MN1.725
June 254:29 PM CDTEF1Freeborn, MN5.225
June 255:17 PM CDTEF1Houston, MN6.575$2,000
June 255:51 PM CDTEF1Wabasha, MN1.8150$95,000
June 255:54 PM CDTEF0Winona, MN1.425
June 255:59 PM CDTEF0Houston, MN1.120
June 257:02 PM EDTEF1Pinellas, FL2.1100$250,000
June 256:41 PM CDTEF1La Crosse, WI5.1130
June 256:53 PM CDTEF0La Crosse, WI1.160
June 257:14 PM CDTEF0Houston, IA to MN3.650
June 257:26 PM CDTEF0Monroe, WI0.630
June 251:10 AM EDTEF1Upson, GA3.5200

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.