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F3 tornado in Mower County, Minnesota

Tornado June 11, 2004 · Mower County, Minnesota

F3
Rating
12.0 mi
Whole path
150 yd
Path width
$3.2M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 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

A tornado crossed the Minnesota-Iowa state line just southwest of Le Roy (Mower County) causing considerable damage. One home right on the state line was completely destroyed, but there were no injuries or deaths. The tornado was approximately 150 yards wide at times and apparently reached F3 damage intensity right on the state line around 6:05 p.m. The tornado then started to weaken, but did heavy damage to a grain company (Koch Industries)(F2 damage) about 2 miles west of Le Roy and continued north, crossing Highway 56 just before 6:10 p.m. The tornado lifted approximately 4 miles northwest of Le Roy in open fields. There were also brief tornado touch downs (all rated F0) near Dexter (Mower County) and Le Roy, as well as areas along the Mower-Fillmore County line west of Spring Valley (Fillmore County).

Began near Le Roy (43.5000, -92.5500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F0 Fillmore CountyF0 Mower CountyF0 Mower County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5409476. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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