EF0 tornado in Freeborn County, Minnesota

A trained spotter took photos and video of a tornado that crossed the northern portion of Freeborn Lake. It damaged some corn on the western edge of the lake, then knocked down large branches on the east side of the lake.

A warm front lifted north into southern Minnesota on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 25th. Strong surface heating to the south of the front with dew points in the 70s allowed for ample instability to develop across the area. Scattered thunderstorms developed in response to the instability and flash flooding occurred in western and east central MN. Strong low-level shear allowed these low-topped supercells to rotate and produce four EF-0s and one EF-1 tornadoes across Faribault and Freeborn Counties in southern Minnesota.

Most tornadoes were on the ground between one to three miles and approximately 25 yds wide. The longest tornado path was an EF-1 that occurred west-southwest of Hartland in Freeborn County for about 5.2 miles with peak winds at 105 mph. The tornado damaged crops, power poles, and several farm outbuildings.