EF2 tornado in Red Lake County, Minnesota

This tornado began near Eldred, in Polk County, at 1952 CST. From Eldred, it tracked across the south side of Crookston, through Gentilly, where it crossed into Red Lake County about four miles east-northeast of Gentilly. From this point it continued east-northeast to a point about eight miles east-southeast of Red Lake Falls. The total track length was about 38 miles, with about 13 miles of the total in Red Lake County. The tornado was wrapped in heavy rains and damaging downburst winds and it 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. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.

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.