Preliminary Summary on Central Minnesota Tornadoes July 11, 2016

Summary:

Storm reports and radar show evidence of multiple tornadoes.  Several photos and videos of structural damage were received via social media.  A tornado damage track map will be created once survey crews gather information about the path length and width.  A peak EF rating will be given to each tornado based on the worst damage. 

Figure 2: The loop to the right shows radar reflectivity (left) and storm relative velocity (right) for 2 hours from 5 PM to 7 PM CDT.  The storm southwest of Litchfield showed rotation as it moved northeast toward St Cloud MN. 

Summary:

This was a narrow tornado. There was a lot
of tree damage, though three single family 
homes received significant roof damage 
and a double wide manufactured home and
garage were flipped and rolled. Another garage
another garage and shed were destroyed near
Highway 12 on the north side of town.

Summary:

The first significant damage was to a business 
along Highway 55 on the south side of town. 
The tornado then tracked across the highway 
and passed through the St. Anthony Cemetery 
before passing through the center of Watkins 
doing damage to structures and many trees. 
The most significant damage occurred between 
Stearns Ave and Meeker Ave where several 
homes had significant roof damage and had 
detached sheds and garages destroyed. The 
tornado exited the town and did further tree 
damage at a farmstead outside of town before 
lifting shortly thereafter.

Summary:

This tornado was spawned by the same 
storm that brought the tornado 
through Watkins. Multiple chaser videos 
showed the Watkins tornado lifted off the 
ground as it became occluded, with this 
tornadoes touchdown point made visible by 
the presence of corn laid down in the field 
south of the first homestead hit. This was 
about two-thirds of mile NNE of where the 
Watkins tornado lifted. At the first 
farmstead hit, two open air cattle sheds 
where completely destroyed, along with a 
metal storage shed and two mostly empty 
grain bins. There were two cattle killed at this 
location as well. This storm destroyed more 
outbuildings at a farmstead along 160th 
street, with the rest of the damage along 
the path of the tornado being corn laid 
flat and tree damage.

Summary:

A short-lived EF-0 tornado touched down and caused tree damage in a campground and damaged the roof of a local business.