EF1 tornado in Polk County, Minnesota

This tornado began in Norman County at 1130 pm CDT. As it crossed into Polk County, it continued to damage numerous barns, sheds, and outbuildings along its path and was likely wrapped in downburst winds and rain. The tornado hit the town of Winger, where it damaged hundreds of trees, damaged the siding and roofs on many homes, and destroyed several grain bins.

Thunderstorms flared up across southern Cass County (North Dakota) on the afternoon of August 26th, dropping some large hail. After a several hour break, another storm intensified and dropped large hail over north central Becker and southern Mahnomen counties in Minnesota. Then after 8 pm CDT, a line of storms from north central North Dakota spread into the Devils Lake region. These storms produced damaging wind gusts. After 9 pm CDT, another line of storms formed ahead of the Devils Lake line, and these also tracked to the east. This line brought hail and damaging wind gusts to the Valley City and Grand Forks areas. Eventually, both lines of storms moved into the central and northern Red River Valley, then progressed into northwest Minnesota. As they did, they continued to produce damaging winds. Within the lines, several long track tornadoes also formed. Both of these occurred from the northeast corner of Norman County up toward the Lower Red Lake in Minnesota. Quite a bit of tree damage resulted along this track.