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EF1 tornado in Chisago County, Minnesota

Tornado July 28, 2019 · Chisago County, Minnesota

EF1

Rating

8.2 mi

Whole path

250 yd

Path width

$2.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Washington County → Chisago 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 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 is the continuation path of the Washington County tornado that moved into Chisago County on 240th Street North, east of Morgan Avenue. This EF1 tornado continued for approximately another 3.8 miles before dissipating north of a farm that was damaged on 268th Street. Along the path in Chisago County, the tornado damaged a farm shed, uprooted numerous trees, damaged an outdoor wedding venue near Highway 25, and destroyed an outbuilding before dissipating. Maximum winds were estimated at 90 mph, with a width of 250 yards in Chisago County.

The wider storm

Several severe storms developed in a highly sheared environment. Instability was adequate enough to cause a few of the storms to become tornadic near Silver Lake, and around Forest Lake, and Scandia during the afternoon of Sunday, July 28th.

A storm survey found a total of six tornadoes. These surveys indicated an EF1 tornado formed near Silver Lake, and another between Forest Lake, north of Scandia, and into southern Chicago County.

The worst damage occurred along Bone Lake near Scandia, where very large trees were uprooted or blown down. Some of the trees caused significant damage to lake homes on Bone Lake.

Began near Lindstrom (45.2963, -92.8433).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 McLeod County EF0 McLeod County EF0 McLeod County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 835226. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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