EF1 Tornado — Crow Wing, Minnesota

2025-06-16 · near Lake Hubert, Crow Wing, Minnesota

Event narrative

This is the second of two tornadoes that were observed and produced damage from a severe thunderstorm. The tornado developed along Moody Lane, just east of Crimson Lane, and moved northeast for about 1.5 miles before turning east-southeast near the south end of Mollie Lake. The tornado then tracked east-southeast for about 3.8 miles before turning east-northeast just after crossing Rebel Road. The tornado then continued across the Mississippi River and into Cuyuna Lakes State Park for about 5.6 miles before dissipating along the north shore of Huntington Mine Lake. Damage along the path of this tornado was almost entirely tree damage with hardwood and softwood trees snapped about 10 to 20 feet above the ground (DI 27/28, DOD 4). Extensive tree damage was observed along Sugar Bush Trail North west of Merrifield with the road completely blocked by fallen trees for a time. The maximum width of the tornado was 900 yards near the south end of Mollie Lake.

Wider weather episode

An area of low pressure moved from eastern South Dakota to Lake Superior on the 16th. As the low tracked to the northeast, it lifted a warm front into central Minnesota. To the south of the warm front and to the east of a cold front, a very warm and moist unstable airmass was in place. Morning thunderstorms across the region left cloud cover in place over much of the Northland, but areas of clearing were able to develop in the vicinity of the low across the central part of the state. This heating led to rapid destabilization and the development of low-topped supercells in central Minnesota. Low level winds were strong and somewhat veered leading to a good environment for tornadoes early in a storm's lifecycle. As a broken line of storms moved in to the Brainerd Lakes area, one storm produced a large EF-1 tornado that began near Casino and moved over Gull Lake before dissipating shortly after moving back onto land near Minnesota Highway 371 just north of Brainerd. This tornado was well documented by chasers in the area. The storm cycled and produced another EF-1 tornado that touched down to the west of Merrifield and moved to the east through the northern part of town and into an inaccessible area along the Mississippi River before ended in Cuyuna State Park along the north shore of Huntington Mine Lake. Extensive tree damage was observed with both tornadoes with many being snapped some ten to 20 feet above the ground. Other areas of tree damage were reported as the line of storms progressed to the east, but no additional tornadoes were found. Some minor flash flooding was reported across the Iron Range as well with this activity.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1267952. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.