EF1 tornado in Houston County, Minnesota

An EF1 tornado formed west of Houston and moved northeast, passing to the east of Money Creek before dissipating just before the Winona County line. Several farms along the Root River sustained damage from this tornado.

An intense storm system moved across the Upper Midwest on December 15th and produced a rare severe weather outbreak across southeast Minnesota. One person was killed near Rochester (Olmsted County) when a large tree fell on the victim. Twelve tornadoes occurred across parts of Mower, Fillmore, Houston, Dodge, Winona and Wabasha Counties. Eight of these tornadoes were rated EF1 with the others rated EF0. The tornadoes largely moved through rural areas damaging trees, power lines and farm buildings with the exception of an EF0 tornado that moved through the eastern sections of Preston (Fillmore County) and and EF1 tornado that tracked across Homer (Winona County). In addition to the tornadoes, damaging winds occurred with several reports of wind speeds over 70 mph. The highest recorded wind gusts were 85 mph in Plainview (Wabasha County), 84 mph in Harmony (Fillmore County) and Mabel (Fillmore County) and 83 mph south of Grand Meadow (Mower County). A state of emergency was declared in Fillmore County. The Governor of Minnesota authorized emergency assistance for the following counties: Dodge, Fillmore, Houston, Mower, Olmsted and Wabasha.