EF1 tornado in Itasca County, Minnesota

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.

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.