1969 Minnesota tornado outbreak

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1969 Minnesota tornado outbreak

Date of tornado outbreak:

August 6, 1969

Duration¹:

6 hours

Maximum rated tornado²:

F4 tornado

Tornadoes caused:

Damages:

$88.4 million (2006 USD)

Fatalities:

Areas affected:

Central and Northern Minnesota

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

The 1969 Minnesota tornado outbreak was a tornado outbreak that affected portions of north central Minnesota on August 6, 1969. There were 13 confirmed tornadoes from the outbreak, 15 people were killed and 109 were injured.

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

[edit] Meteorological synopsis

Very warm, humid summertime air had pushed into central on southern Minnesota on August 6, 1969. Minneapolis saw a high temperature of 93 °F (34 °C) with dew points near 70 °F (21 °C).^[1] Meanwhile, strong upper level winds over northern Minnesota and an approaching cold front from the west added the needed ingredient for the strong storms.^[2]

[edit] Outbreak description

Thirteen tornadoes touched down that day, killing 15 and injuring 109. The first tornado of the day, an F0, touched down at 12:15 pm CDT in Beltrami County.^[3] The main tornado event started about three hours later in Cass County when an F3 tornado touched down southwest of Backus, injuring four people.^[4]

**Outbreak death toll**
State	Total	County	County total
Minnesota	15	Aitkin	1
		Cass	12
		St. Louis	2
Totals	15
All deaths were tornado-related

The most damaging tornado of the outbreak touched down at 3:48 pm in Crow Wing County. It achieved F4 strength, traveling 38 miles (61 km) through Crow Wing, Cass and Aitkin counties. The area around Outing was especially hard hit by this tornado, where 11 deaths and 40 injuries occurred on the shores of Roosevelt Lake.^[5]

Several more strong tornadoes touched down over the next two hours, killing one person near Jacobson and two people near Two Harbors.^[5] Damage and causalities were limited however because most of the twisters struck rural areas.

[edit] Confirmed tornadoes

Table of confirmed tornadoes - after surveys by local weather service offices^[6]

Confirmed Total	Confirmed F0	Confirmed F1	Confirmed F2	Confirmed F3	Confirmed F4	Confirmed F5
13	2	0	3	7	1	0

F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Minnesota
F0	Bemidji	Beltrami	1815	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	No Damage Reported.
F3	Backus area	Cass	2120	17.3 miles (27.7 km)	$2.5 Million in damages, 4 injuries. 5 miles NE of Nimrod to 4 mi ENE of Backus.
F4	Outing area	Crow Wing, Cass and Aitkin	2148	32.3 miles (51.7 km)	$7.5 Million in damages, 12 killed, 70 injured. Large F4 tornado hit the town of Outing at 1602 resulting in heavy damage.
F3	NE of Chisholm	St. Louis	2225	10 miles (16 km)	$2.5 million in damage. 9 injured
F3	S of Jacobson	Aitkin	2250	12.5 miles (20 km)	$250k in damage. 1 killed, 3 injured.
F2	S of Tower (1st tornado)	St. Louis	2300	2 miles (3.2 km)	$25k in damage
F2	S of Tower (2nd tornado)	St. Louis	2300	1 mile (1.6 km)	$25k in damage
F3	E of Tower	St. Louis	2300	7.2 miles (11.5 km)	$250k in damage
F3	Floodwood area	St. Louis	2300	18.4 miles (29.4 km)	$2.5 million in damage. 20 injured
F3	E of Soudan	St. Louis	2315	3.8 miles (6.1 km)	$250k in damage
F2	S of Ely	St. Louis	2335	1.9 miles (3 km)	$25k in damage
F3	N of Duluth to Two Harbors	St. Louis, Lake	2350	17.2 miles (27.5 km)	$250k in damage in St. Louis County. $2.5 k in damage in Lake County. 2 killed, 3 injured
Nebraska
F0	NE of Monroe	Platte	0140	0.1 miles (0.16 km)
Source: Tornado History Project - August 6, 1969 Storm Data