TornadoLookup

Home / Minnesota / Chippewa

EF1 tornado in Chippewa County, Minnesota

Tornado September 19, 2017 · Chippewa County, Minnesota

EF1
Rating
0.1 mi
Path length
80 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 80 yards (0.05 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado uprooted or snapped dozens of trees south of Montevideo and just east of the Minnesota River.

The wider storm

A strong and potent upper level disturbance, combined with a cold front sweeping across the eastern Dakotas, fired a line of severe thunderstorms that moved eastward into western Minnesota toward midnight. This line of storms continued to progress east-northeast across southern and central Minnesota, which produced fast-moving tornadoes, severe measured wind gusts, and hail as large as tennis balls. This line slowly weakened as it moved into far eastern Minnesota, with general, non-severe thunderstorms as the line progressed into west central Wisconsin after 3 am.

Began near Montevideo (44.9213, -95.7191).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Swift CountyEF1 Swift CountyEF1 Stearns CountyEF1 Todd CountyEF0 Chippewa CountyEF0 Stearns County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 717533. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.