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F1 tornado in Mower County, Minnesota

Tornado May 1, 2001 · Mower County, Minnesota

F1
Rating
6.0 mi
Whole path
250 yd
Path width
$200K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

The wider storm

Storm spotters and law enforcement officials reported a tornado entered Mower County about 3 miles west of Austin. The storm proceeded northeast, before lifting about 4 miles north of Austin. The tornado hit numerous farms, outbuildings, power poles and crossed fields that were still bare of crops. Several hog farms were destroyed. Hardest hit were several homes in the small community of Andyville, just north of Austin, along Highway 218. Roofs were torn off and trees sheared off. Two smaller tornadoes also touched down briefly between Rose Creek and Elkton (Mower County) and near Stewartville (Olmsted County), but no damage was reported. Spotters across southeast Minnesota also reported hail ranging in size from dimes to golf balls and thunderstorm wind gusts of 60 mph.

Began near Austin (43.6667, -93.0000).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F0 Mower CountyF0 Olmsted County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5242952. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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