Review of the damaging EF-4 tornado across west central Minnesota on July 8th, 2020

Overview

A severe thunderstorm quickly developed along the Grant/Otter Tail county line early in the late afternoon of Wednesday, July 8th. Numerous weather spotters were monitoring the convective development in this area, and they quickly relayed funnel cloud and tornado development information to the Grand Forks NWS office. From this information and radar signatures, a Tornado Warning was issued immediately (5:08 PM CDT to 6:00 PM CDT).

Tornado
Thank you
Photos & Video
Radar
Additional Information

Tornadoes:

A rapidly developing supercell thunderstorm produced a long lived and deadly tornado that originally touched down in far northern Grant County (MN) as a weak tornado (EF-0 to EF-1), but then quickly intensified into a strong to violent tornado as it crossed into southern Otter Tail County (MN), near MP70 on Interstate 94. The tornado intensified to a strong tornado (EF-2 to EF-3) as it moved northeastward through southwestern St. Olaf Township and crossed Beebe Lake. It likely reached maximum EF-4 intensity after it crossed Highway 82 and destroyed a machine shop and yard on the downwind side. It then continued in a northeast direction and reached both maximum width and intensity as it moved into and across a rural homestead along 120th Street and into Blacken Lake. The tornado continued in a northeast direction producing mainly tree and cropland damages as it crossed CR117, north of Kvam Church. Video imagery and deep ground scour indicate that the tornado maintained its intensity as a strong to violent tornado even as it narrowed and eventually began to rope out near 325th Avenue, between 145th Street and CR12. The storm that produced this tornado continued eastward across southern Otter Tail County and may have produced one or more additional, but brief, tornadoes along its path.

Tornado - LOCATION
GRANT/OTTER TAIL COUNTIES

Date	July 8, 2020
Time (Local)	5:08 pm CDT - 5:39 pm CDT
EF Rating	EF-4
Est. Peak Winds	170 mph
Path Length	9 miles
Max Width	650 yards
Injuries/Deaths	2 injuries/1 death
Summary: Initial touchdown occurred 6.5 W Ashby in Grant County (MN) and tracked northeastward until lifting 5 E Dalton in Otter Tail County (MN).

Track Map

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