Review of the June 8-9, 2020 Severe Event Over Eastern North Dakota, Northwest and West Central Minnesota

Overview

Several storms developed along a cold front pushing into the area on the afternoon of Monday, June 8th. Some of the thunderstorms became supercells, with rotation that helped produce hail up to 2 inches and damaging wind gusts, along with a few tornadoes. The storms moved from eastern North Dakota and into northwestern Minnesota. Additional thunderstorms moved up from South Dakota after dark and produced some damaging winds in the far southern Red River Valley into west central Minnesota.

Tornado
Wind & Hail
Radar
Rainfall
Environment

Tornadoes:

Tornado #1 - North of Sharon, ND
Steele/Grand Forks Counties

Date	8 June 2020
Time (Local)	4:30 PM - 4:42 PM
EF Rating	EF-1
Est. Peak Winds	95 mph
Path Length	7.2 miles
Max Width	250 yards
Injuries/Deaths	None
Summary: Tornado tracked intermittently to the north-northeast for over 7 miles. It blew out the back wall of a pole shed and tore sheathing off the building. It also snapped or uprooted several cottonwood and pine trees in shelterbelts along its path. The tornado crossed through areas with similar scale downburst wind damage from the previous evening. Local residents assisted in identifying event damages in which trajectories were in a general north northeast direction compared to the northeast or east northeast trajectories from the previous evening.

Tornado #2 - South of Arvilla, ND
Grand Forks County

Date	8 June 2020
Time (Local)	5:09 PM - 5:15 PM
EF Rating	EF-0
Est. Peak Winds	80 mph
Path Length	3 miles
Max Width	150 yards
Injuries/Deaths	None
Summary: This tornado tracked intermittently to the north-northeast for about 3 miles. It snapped a number of poplar or cottonwood trees in the few shelter belts along its path. The tornado crossed through areas with similar scale downburst wind damage from the previous evening. Local residents assisted in identifying event damages in which trajectories were in a general north northeast direction compared to the northeast or east northeast trajectories from the previous evening.

Tornado #3 - Near Middle River MN

Marshall County

Date	8 June 2020
Time (Local)	7:17 PM - 7:32 PM
EF Rating	EF-1
Est. Peak Winds	100 mph
Path Length	9 miles
Max Width	300 yards
Injuries/Deaths	None
Summary: This tornado, though nearly rain wrapped was viewed and recorded by at least two chase teams as it tracked for around 9 miles, ending about 7 miles east of Middle River by 7:32 PM CDT. The tornado snapped numerous poplar and pine trees in groves along its path, spreading debris up to 300 yards wide across one roadway. Peak winds were estimated to 100 mph, maximum width to 300 yards.

Tornado #4 - Near Norris Camp DNR MN
Lake of the Woods County

Date	8 June 2020
Time (Local)	8:45 PM - 8:50 PM
EF Rating	EF-1
Est. Peak Winds	107 mph
Path Length	1.2 miles
Max Width	100 yards
Injuries/Deaths	None
Summary: This tornado tracked for about 1.2 miles and uprooted fir and pine trees, and snapped several large diameter ash and poplar trees along the Faunce-Butterfield Road SW roughly 4 miles southwest of the Norris Camp DNR station.

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph

Wind & Hail:

Storm reports across the area. Green H=Hail, Blue W=Damaging Wind, Red T=Tornado

Wind


Photo from Justin Dernier near Salol MN	Photo from Chris Rader of down power line near Underwood MN	Photo from Jason Wolfe near Fergus Falls MN	Photo from Dawn Gilles in Wahpeton, ND