EF1 Tornado — Olmsted, Minnesota

2010-06-17 · near Douglas, Olmsted, Minnesota

Event narrative

An EF1 tornado produced intermittent damage starting near 50th Ave NW just south of the Northern Hills Golf Course northeast almost to the intersection of 55th St NW and and 23rd Ave NW in the city of Rochester. The path of the tornado took it through a residential area where several homes were damaged. It also struck a Menards store doing extensive damage before dissipating a few minutes later. According to media reports, the tornado damaged at least 30 homes, one of which was destroyed.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms developed during the evening of June 17th along a warm front that was lifting north through southern Minnesota and northeast Iowa. These severe thunderstorms produced the first tornadoes of 2010 for southeast Minnesota with three confirmed tornadoes. Two of these occurred in rural portions of Dodge County while the third moved through the northwest side of Rochester (Olmsted County). The tornadoes in Dodge County were rated EF0 and EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale while the tornado in Rochester was rated EF1. The tornado in Rochester was the first to occur within the city limits since August 1995. As the storms progressed east, they became prolific wind producers with wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph across Olmsted and Winona Counties. Numerous buildings were damaged or destroyed with most of this occurring from Rochester east through the Winona area (Winona County). Federal Disaster Declarations for public assistance were designated for Olmsted and Houston Counties in southeast Minnesota.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.0649, -92.5395)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 227093. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.