Funnel Cloud — Swift, Minnesota

2023-09-23 · near Appleton Arpt, Swift, Minnesota

Event narrative

A broadcast meteorologist photographed a funnel cloud and shared it on social media. The funnel did not appear to have made ground contact.

Wider weather episode

During the afternoon of September 23, 2023, a line of thunderstorms crossed the South Dakota/Minnesota border as part of a low pressure system. Embedded within one of these storms, two storm chasers independently confirmed that a weak tornado touched down in a rural field six miles northeast of Madison, MN. The tornado was on the ground for nearly 45 seconds and traveled about one-quarter mile before dissipating. No structural damage was reported. Average path width of the tornado was approximately 25 yards.

Approximately 13 miles to the northeast the same storm approached the town of Appleton where a funnel cloud was reported by broadcast media 2 miles north of town.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (45.2600, -96.0000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1139776. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.