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EF1 tornado in Swift County, Minnesota

Tornado May 15, 2025 · Swift County, Minnesota

EF1
Rating
2.7 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado developed approximately 3 miles to the SSE of Benson. Visible debris was reported by trained spotters and law enforcement. The tornado caused damage to some farm outbuildings before lifting just north of the intersection of US-12 and 10th St NE. Multiple damage photos and the detailed track were provided, so a virtual storm survey was conducted on this tornado. Its maximum wind was estimated at 95 mph.

The wider storm

A very strong low pressure system produced storms on Thursday, May 15th, 2025 across the Upper Midwest. Two main areas of storms formed across south and west central Minnesota during the early afternoon.

One line of storms formed over west central Minnesota, producing a few tornadoes in Chippewa, Swift, and western Stearns counties. Another line of storms had many rotating wall clouds reported over south central Minnesota and into the Twin Cities metro.

Began near Benson (45.2740, -95.5750).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF0 Swift CountyEF0 Chippewa CountyEF0 Stearns County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1260593. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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