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EF2 tornado in Olmsted County, Minnesota

Tornado April 17, 2026 · Olmsted County, Minnesota

EF2

Rating

7.4 mi

Whole path

200 yd

Path width

$636K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Olmsted County → Wabasha County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

This strong EF-2 tornado began in rural portions of Olmsted County east of Viola where it damaged some farm outbuildings as it moved northeast. As the tornado approached the Wabasha County line, it strengthened and significantly damaged a farmstead, removing large sections of the roof and other portions of the home and outbuildings. It then continued northeast into Wabasha County.

The wider storm

A prolific tornado outbreak occurred during the afternoon on April 17th, with 5 tornadoes occurring in southeast Minnesota. Two were EF-2 intensity, one of which was highly visible from Rochester, Minnesota as it tracked from Stewartville to Marion, Minnesota, resulting in numerous homes being damaged. Some of these homes were rendered uninhabitable. Additionally, the storms that produced these tornadoes also brought up to golf ball sized hail in the Rochester area and surrounding communities.

Began near Viola (44.0700, -92.2200).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Olmsted County EF1 Olmsted County EF0 Mower County EF0 Dodge County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1328882. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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