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F1 tornado in Freeborn County, Minnesota

Tornado May 1, 2001 · Freeborn County, Minnesota

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.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The third tornado in a series (the first one started at Glenville) formed just north of Interstate 90 and east of Oakland. It was on the ground for one mile in Freeborn County before crossing into Mower County, where it dissipated 4 N Austin (see Storm Data for southeast Minnesota). A few grain bins were blown down.

Began near Oakland (43.6833, -93.0667).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F2 Freeborn County F2 Freeborn County F0 Blue Earth County F0 Steele County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5249939. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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