EF1 Tornado — Stearns, Minnesota

2024-08-03 · near Melrose, Stearns, Minnesota

Event narrative

A tornado moved south-southeast through the west side of Melrose. The worst structural damage took place in the northwest side of town. The tornado destroyed a large metal building system and peeled the roof off of several other buildings. Portions of the roof were torn off some townhomes. Hundreds of trees were uprooted or broken. The tornado moved across a golf course, taking down many dozens of trees. In the far southern part of Melrose, more homes sustained damage and the tornado completely destroyed a large machine shed at a farm. After exiting town, the tornado moved across fields and damaged a few more farms. One turkey barn had much of its roof removed and the roof was blown off a large shed shortly before the tornado dissipated.

Wider weather episode

A pronounced cold front sagged south of Canada, colliding with a warm and humid air mass across central Minnesota. Surface temperatures reached the upper 80s/lower 90s with dew points in the low to mid 70s. This created an unstable environment conducive for storms supporting large hail, strong winds, and a few tornadoes.

A pair of strong supercells formed along the front over central Minnesota during the late afternoon and travelled south-southeast through the evening. Initial storms produced very large hail up to 3 inches in diameter, with sporadic reports of wind damage. An EF-1 tornado impacted Melrose, MN as the supercells travelled through Stearns County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (45.6863, -94.8297)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1190198. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.