EF1 tornado, Lewisville to Amboy, Minnesota, April 13, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

April 13, 2026

Touchdown

6:15 PM CDT (23:15 UTC)

Lifted

6:40 PM CDT (23:40 UTC)

On the ground

25 minutes

Path length

8.5 miles (13.7 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Watonwan and Blue Earth counties

Touchdown point

43.855, -94.424

Lift-off point

43.879, -94.258

Highest wind the damage implies

90 mph

Surveyed by

NWS MPX

The office's name for it

Truman MN 2

Survey last edited

April 20, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

Ground contact most of the way, but not always, as there were two or three occasions when ground circulation was not evident for one or two minutes. But video showed it to be entirely from the same parent circulation, hence one tornado.

Written by NWS MPX in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

20 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MPX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 99 mph.

• Approximate start based on chaser video.
• Location based on chaser video. Multiple vortices.
• location of tornado fully condensed per chaser video
• Trees snapped based on drone video

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

A southward moving cold front tracked across central and southern MN early Monday morning before stalling near Redwood Falls, MN over to Eau Claire, WI. Morning stratus associated with this frontal boundary aided an increased thermal gradient along this boundary. Later in the afternoon, a surface low centered over eastern Nebraska advected unstable air into much of southern MN. This airmass converged on the pre-existing stationary boundary which led to the initiation of several severe thunderstorms. Many thunderstorms produced large to very large hail measuring as large as 3.5 in diameter as well as four tornadoes across southern Minnesota.

This tornado was witnessed by multiple storm chasers. The location is approximate and based on video from various chasers. It crossed open fields and appeared to not hit any damage indicators.

This tornado was witnessed by multiple storm chasers. The location is based on video from various chasers. It crossed open fields while in Watonwan County and appeared to not hit any damage indicators. Once it moved into Blue Earth County, it hit several farms. The tornado was also reported by personnel with Truman Fire.

The tornado moved into Blue Earth County from Watonwan County. Based on multiple storm chaser videos, ground contact was evident most of the way, but not always, as there were two or three occasions when ground circulation was not evident for one or two minutes. But some storm chaser video showed it to be entirely from the same parent circulation, hence one tornado. The tornado hit several farms. At one farm, both garage doors on either side of a house were buckled in, multiple trees were snapped or large branches broken. Two farm outbuildings had their garage doors blown out. Some shingles were also removed. Dozens of trees nearby were blown over. A small trailer was blown over 100 yards. Another farm had two small outbuildings that were destroyed and trees down or broken. The maximum wind speed was estimated at 90 mph. This was based on drone video and ground-based photos provided by the Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS MPX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:58 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:33 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:11 UTC and running to 03:00 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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.

St. James (JYG), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 125 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:17 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 2026 tornado in MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are

15 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.