EF0 tornado, Lakota Muni Arpt, North Dakota, June 7, 2020

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

June 7, 2020

Touchdown

8:52 PM CDT (01:52 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Nelson County

Touchdown point

47.970, -98.350

Lift-off point

47.970, -98.350

Record number

2006071952-01

On June 7th, 500mb ridging had set up over eastern Minnesota into Wisconsin, with southwest flow over the Dakotas into northwest Minnesota. At the surface, by mid afternoon, a cold front had moved into central North Dakota, with a stationary boundary just to the east of the Red River Valley. It was hot and windy over eastern North Dakota into the Valley, with temperatures peaking in the upper 80s to upper 90s (Fargo set a record high of 99 degrees), and dew points in the 60s to low 70s. South winds were strong all day, gusting into the 45 mph range consistently. East of the Red River Valley, in northwest Minnesota, temperatures were cooler with lower wind speeds. By mid afternoon, thunderstorms flared up over northwest Minnesota. Through the rest of the late afternoon and evening, numerous severe storms occurred over eastern North Dakota into the Red River Valley, producing large hail, damaging winds, and even a tornado.

A brief, non-damaging, touchdown was reported in an open field near highway 1. Peak winds were estimated at 70 mph.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:52 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:07 UTC and running to 02:56 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:55 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.

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:49 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 2020 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.