EF1 Tornado — Freeborn, Minnesota

2025-06-25 · near Freeborn, Freeborn, Minnesota

Event narrative

Storm chasers and trained spotters (including fire and law personnel) took photos and video of a tornado that began west-southwest of Hartland. It moved across one farm where large branches were knocked down, then moved just northwest of Hartland, barely missing the city and two more farms. It eventually hit one farm at 42.8204, -93.4657 before turning a little more northward and dissipating north of 325th St. At the farm, several outbuildings were destroyed. Just northeast of the farm, power poles were knocked over. The path was confirmed through drone video and satellite imagery.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.7887, -93.5378)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1264833. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.