EF0 Tornado — Freeborn, Minnesota

2025-06-26 · near Twin Lakes, Freeborn, Minnesota

Event narrative

A storm chaser took video of a tornado near its beginning, just northwest of Twin Lakes. It moved across two farms, tree groves, and fields. At the farms, two sheds were damaged from falling trees. The tornado entered the southeast edge of Albert Lea, taking down more trees and destroying a chicken coop. A trailer was knocked over before the tornado dissipated. Drone video of the damage in the southeast side of Albert Lea was reviewed. The maximum wind speed was estimated at 80 mph.

Wider weather episode

A large scale mid-to-upper-level trough was moving across the northern plains on the afternoon of June 26th. Immediately ahead of this progressing wave was a mesoscale convective vortex moving out of the Missouri River Valley. Ahead of this MCV was a warm front that supplied sufficient shear and low-level moisture across southern Minnesota into northern Iowa. A low topped supercell developed within a line of thunderstorms stretched along the I-35 corridor.

An EF-0 tornado developed just northwest of Twin Lakes and traveled over five miles and was approximately 75 yds wide. Maximum winds were estimated to be 80 mph, damaging two farm sheds before destroying farm outbuildings and overturning a trailer.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.5737, -93.4336)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1264844. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.