Comfrey - St. Peter Tornado Outbreak

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Comfrey - St. Peter Tornado Outbreak

Tornado tracks of the Comfrey/St. Peter Tornado Outbreak through southern Minnesota

Date of tornado outbreak:

March 29, 1998

Duration¹:

3 hours, 20 minutes [3:23 PM CST (1123 UTC) to 6:43 PM CST (1443 UTC)]

Maximum rated tornado²:

F4 tornado

Tornadoes caused:

14 confirmed

Damages:

$230 million

Fatalities:

Areas affected:

Southern Minnesota

¹Time from first tornado to last tornado
²Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita Scale

The Comfrey - St. Peter Tornado Outbreak was a tornado outbreak which left a path of destruction across southern Minnesota on March 29, 1998. Fourteen tornadoes were recorded, including one F3 and one F4, resulting in 2 deaths, 36 injuries and caused over $230 million in damages.^[1] The towns of St. Peter, Le Center, and Comfrey were hardest hit. This outbreak shattered nearly every early-season tornado record for the state of Minnesota. It was named the top severe weather event in Minnesota during the 1990s by Metro Skywarn.^[1]

1 Meteorological synopsis
2 Outbreak description
3 Confirmed tornadoes
4 See also
5 External links
6 Notes and references

[edit] Meteorological synopsis

The driving force behind this outbreak was a strong area of low pressure in South Dakota. A warm front out ahead of the system had pushed northward into far southern Minnesota, bringing with it temperatures in the upper 60's, some 25 degrees above normal.^[2]^[3] At the same time, a strong cold front approached the area from the west. These features, along with strong upper level winds, set the stage for a major tornadic event across the southern part of the state. The timing and strength of the situation was nearly unprecedented for the region, as before it there had been only six tornadoes ever recorded in Minnesota during the month of March.

[edit] Outbreak description

The storms began forming in southwestern Minnesota in mid-afternoon, with the first tornado, rated F2 intensity, touching down at approximately 3:25 PM near Lismore.^[4] Several more small tornadoes touched down during the next hour in the same area. Most of these tornadoes formed from one parent supercell, which then proceeded to track along and just north of the warm front for 150 miles across southern Minnesota during the rest of the late afternoon hours, spawning many more tornadoes along the way.^[5]

[edit] Comfrey

A large, long track F4 tornado touched down at 3:50 PM, 7 miles east of Avoca, Minnesota in Murray county. At approximately 4:30 PM CST the twister ripped through the town of Comfrey. The tornado destroyed a grain elevator, a school, and most of the downtown including the town hall. 100 people were made homeless, and 50 homes were destroyed. The tornado achieved F4 status nearby in Hanska where it critically injured one man in the collapse of his farmstad. He died the next day. At one point this tornado had a one and a quarter mile width. After being on the ground for 67 miles and 4 counties, the twister finally lifted back into the clouds near Nicollet.

[edit] St. Peter

A few minutes later at 5:18 PM, the same supercell produced yet another large tornado. At 5:30 PM the F3 twister tore through St. Peter, a town of about 10,000 people. It killed one person and inflicted severe damage on much of the town. ^[6] Gustavus Adolphus College sustained heavy damage after taking a direct hit from the twister. Officials estimated 500 homes in St. Peter were damaged or destroyed, and over 1000 trees were uprooted. Broken bricks littered the downtown, storefronts were broken and the shattered contents of a boat store lay scattered over a six-block area. Debris from St. Peter fell onto suburbs of the Twin Cities 60 miles away.

[edit] Other tornadoes

Over the next hour the super cell tracked through Le Sueur, Rice, and Dakota counties. Five more tornadoes would be spawned from this same supercell, however none would be stronger than an F2. Le Center was the hardest hit town after St. Peter and Comfrey, but the damage there was relatively minor. The last tornado of the day touched down just southwest of Hastings, and finally the super cell dissipated as it moved into Wisconsin.

[edit] Confirmed tornadoes

Table of confirmed tornadoes - after surveys by local weather service offices

Confirmed Total	Confirmed F0	Confirmed F1	Confirmed F2	Confirmed F3	Confirmed F4	Confirmed F5
14	4	4	4	1	1	0

F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
F2	N of Lismore	Nobles	1123	0 mile	A tornado destroyed buildings...trees in shelter belts...and numerous pieces of farm equipment...and killed two cattle.
F0	E/ESE of Leota	Nobles	1125	0 mile	A tornado damaged trees and a few buildings.
F0	N of Wilmont	Nobles	1128	0 mile	A tornado caused damage to trees and a few buildings.
F1	NE of St. Killian	Nobles	1145	0 mile	A tornado damaged trees and destroyed old farm buildings.
F1	E of Avoca	Murray	1150	3 miles	A strong tornado which began in Murray County tracked across Cottonwood County and then further northeast. The tornado destroyed numerous farms, farm equipment, buildings, trees, power lines and poles, vehicles, and other structures in its path. A vehicle was tossed a hundred yards as it hit the first farm in southwest Cottonwood County. People in the basement of the house on this farm received minor injuries. The tornado also destroyed a church near Jeffers, and destroyed numerous homes in the southern part of Comfrey, a city which is only partly in Cottonwood County.
F1	SW of Fulda	Murray	1155	0 mile	A tornado damaged trees and destroyed old farm buildings.
F4	Comfrey area	Murray, Cottonwood, Brown, Watonwan, Blue Earth, Nicollet	1230	67 miles	130 farmsteads damaged or destroyed in Brown county. 500 dairy cows killed. 35 buildings destroyed or damaged in far Northwest Blue Earth county. Damage estimate estimated. Property damage to extreme northwest Blue Earth county across Cambria township estimated at 2 million. Property damage to extreme northwest Watonwan county estimated at 245 thousand.
F0	W/WNW of Wabasha	Wabasha	1307	2 miles	Hail the size of dimes to as large as tennis balls was reported by storm spotters and law enforcement officials across parts of southeast Minnesota. The city of Rochester was especially hit hard with significant hail damage to cars and trucks. A tornado touched down briefly near Wabasha as well, but no injuries or damage was reported.
F3	St. Peter area	Nicollet, Le Sueur	1318	18 miles	Tornado made a direct hit on the city of St. Peter and Gustavus Adolphus College. All major buildings on campus suffered varying degrees of damage, and 70% of the windows on campus were broken. The spire on Christ Chapel snapped in half. 500 homes were destroyed in St. Peter, 1,700 were damaged. Over 1,000 trees uprooted. St. Peter Catholic Church destroyed. Hospital severely damaged. Roof ripped off library. 25% of books lost. 60 rural homes and farms damaged or destroyed from Courtland to St. Peter. Rural damage estimated at 6.5 million.
F2	Le Center area	Le Sueur	1348	17 miles	Tornado tracked through Le Center and adjoining rural areas. Most of the businesses in the southern part of town were damaged. Buildings destroyed at county fairgrounds. 15 mobiles homes at a trailer park destroyed, another 26 suffering major damage. Over 100 farm buildings destroyed.
F1	SW of Lonsdale	Rice	1409	0 mile	None reported.
F2	Lonsdale	Rice	1416	5 miles	Four homes and 6 businesses severely damaged. Street department building damaged. 20 farms damaged or destroyed.
F2	WNW of Castle Rock	Dakota	1425	3 miles	None reported.
F0	SW of Hastings	Dakota	1443	1 mile	None reported.
Source: National Climatic Database Center