(Sauk Rapids/ St. Cloud tornado, 1886: TPT/PBS Twin Cities)
Minnesota sits on the northern edge of some of the planet’s most intense and volatile weather. Tornadoes are the realization of all of nature’s fury coming together in one spot.
Minnesota’s earliest recorded tornado was on April 19, 1820 at Fort Snelling. It occurred at 11 PM, which you can imagine was probably pretty frightening in the dark wilderness. There were no deaths or injuries.
Rochester tornado & the Mayo Clinic
One of THE most significant tornado outbreaks in Minnesota history was on August 21, 1883. Multiple tornadoes killed 37 people and injured 200 others. Of course this was before the time of rating tornadoes but looking back, it’s been estimated that there were two EF-3’s and one EF-5 tornado. These estimates were done by Thomas Grazulis.
The first tornado touched down around 3:30 PM 10 miles south of Rochester. It was estimated to be an EF-3.
A second tornado touched down around 6:30 PM. It was estimated to be an EF-5. It leveled an estimated 10 to 40 farms. It was said the enormous ‘roaring’ sound the tornado made was the warning most people heard.
The final tornado occurred around 8:30 PM two miles north of St. Charles (Winona county).
The impact of this event changed history. Prior to this time there were only three hospitals outside of the Twin Cities. Dr. William Mayo and his two sons, William and Charles treated the hundreds injured along with Mother Mary Alfred Moes. The experience made the Mayo family and the sisters from St. Francis understand the need for a local hospital and developed the St. Mary’s hospital which became the Mayo Clinic.
Sauk Rapids – St. Cloud
The deadliest tornado outbreak in Minnesota history struck April 14, 1886 wiping out Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. The tornadoes killed 72 people. 11 of those people were of a wedding party, including the groom. The bride remarried eventually. 213 people were injured.
Sauk Rapids was the larger city and economic hub of the St. Cloud – Sauk Rapids pair of cities prior to this tornado. The massive destruction of Sauk Rapids led to St. Cloud taking over as the larger, more prosperous city, which it is to this day.
It was later estimated that one of the tornadoes was an EF-4 by Thomas Grazulis, a tornado expert. Four tornadoes struck the central Minnesota region. It was part of an outbreak that struck Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Texas.
At 4:20 PM on April 14, 1886 the EF-4 tornado, at least a half mile wide, cut through the center of Sauk Rapids. It was said the massive tornado temporarily sucked the Mississippi river dry!
Some tornado climatology
Despite a rather active start to the severe weather season this spring and that record-setting, latest ever and only ever December tornado, this summer has been rather lackluster. Being in a drought two summer in a row doesn’t hide the fact that Minnesota sits on the northern edge of active severe weather in the United States.
On average, Minnesota receives about 29 tornadoes annually when using the 1950-2020 average. The numbers vary greatly of course depending on a variety of conditions. The map below shows a 2005-2014 average (a much narrower window of time) but shows generally what areas are more active than others. While of course Texas gets a lot more tornadoes, it’s also much bigger. When you break it down per square mile, Texas only gets about 1.5 times more tornadoes annually than Minnesota.
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