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EF1 tornado in Grant County, Minnesota

Tornado August 14, 2020 · Grant County, Minnesota

EF1
Rating
1.7 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
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 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 was the fifth and southernmost of five tornadoes that occurred in Grant County. This tornado had a persistent wall cloud for several minutes prior to tornado development. The tornado quickly became wrapped in heavy rain. It snapped or uprooted several trees, and tore roofing off of a home and a pole shed before passing over highway 55, as confirmed by video and a storm damage survey. Peak winds were estimated at 95 mph.

The wider storm

During the very early morning hours of Friday, August 14th, sporadic slow moving severe thunderstorms formed across portions of west central Minnesota. These resulted in reports of large hail, strong wind gusts, and flash flooding. Prior to sunrise and through Friday morning, additional storms developed back westward into southeast North Dakota, and they continued to fire across west central Minnesota. These storms continued to produce large hail, gusty winds, and flash flooding. By mid-afternoon, an area of surface low pressure tracked through west central Minnesota, dragging a cold front behind it. Five tornadoes occurred during this period across Grant County, Minnesota.

Began near Hoffman (45.8500, -95.8500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 911086. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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