EF2 Tornado — Polk, Minnesota

2014-07-21 · near Eldred, Polk, Minnesota

Event narrative

The tornado, which was wrapped in heavy rains and damaging downburst winds, tracked from near Eldred, through the south side of Crookston, through Gentilly, where it crossed into Red Lake County and ended about eight miles east-southeast of Red Lake Falls. The tornado snapped or uprooted numerous trees along its path, tore sections of roofing off of buildings and residences, tumbled empty rail cars, and snapped power poles along its nearly 38 mile path (about 25 miles in Polk County). Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.

Wider weather episode

During the late afternoon of July 21st, a stationary boundary set up across northeast North Dakota. Temperatures north of the boundary were generally in the low to mid 80s, while to the south they were in the mid 80s to low 90s. Surface dew point readings were very high, with most locations in the low to mid 70s. A few thunderstorms fired north of the front around the Langdon, ND, area, dropping some large hail. However, the more significant action came from a thunderstorm complex that formed across west central North Dakota and moved east during the evening. This complex evolved into a bow echo with good rotational structure on the northern book end vortice. Strong straight line winds, large hail, and a few tornadoes were reported as this complex moved across eastern North Dakota into the northwest quarter of Minnesota.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (47.7000, -96.8600)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 523695. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.