How thunderstormy does the Twin Cities get? (earthquakes, floor)

[Ghengis]

my long-time, observation is that there does appear to be two swaths through the metro area that get hit by severe weather (Hail/damaging winds) a disproportionate amount of time. One of those seems to roughly follow the Minnesota River Valley coming in from the SW from Mankato and through Jordan-Shakopee-Burnsville and on towards Hastings. The other seems to come across on the far North from Zimmerman/Princeton and on through Isanti to Stacy/North Branch and into Wisconsin. Further North, Pine City seems to take more than their fair share of storms and these often end up hitting the Siren Wisconsin area. We are between these two Northern tracks and have watched on numerous occasions as these giant cells pass just to our South or North.

[Ben Around]

Originally Posted by knke0204

Minnesota is one of the states that gets the most tornados.

I love thunderstorms. The day is all nice and muggy... hot... then around 4 or 5 it starts to get dark and the clouds roll in and it gets windy and rains and is pretty intense... Then the clouds clear and the sun comes out and it's nice again but not humid. It's like the world took a shower.

No it's not. "Tornado Alley" runs across parts of TX, OK, KS, NE, and IA. We get our share but not like those states.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by Ben Around

No it's not. "Tornado Alley" runs across parts of TX, OK, KS, NE, and IA. We get our share but not like those states.

Minnesota Tornadoes 2010: We're #1! | Updraft | Minnesota Public Radio

Minnesota Tornado History and Statistics

Tornado Alley Shift: 2010's Leading State - weather.com

I would say top 15 in the USA isn't bad. That's imore tornadoes than 70% of the states.

[Laggard]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

my long-time, observation is that there does appear to be two swaths through the metro area that get hit by severe weather (Hail/damaging winds) a disproportionate amount of time. One of those seems to roughly follow the Minnesota River Valley coming in from the SW from Mankato and through Jordan-Shakopee-Burnsville and on towards Hastings. The other seems to come across on the far North from Zimmerman/Princeton and on through Isanti to Stacy/North Branch and into Wisconsin. Further North, Pine City seems to take more than their fair share of storms and these often end up hitting the Siren Wisconsin area. We are between these two Northern tracks and have watched on numerous occasions as these giant cells pass just to our South or North.

It's amazing how many storms I've seen that seem to split when they approach Mpls/St. Paul.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Is anyone getting a hankering for the movie Twister like I am?! I found my favorite song ever from that movie, "Respect the Wind"!

[Dr.drew]

It's pretty nice up here in the summer. Storms aren't usually too bad

[Dr.drew]

We got a thunderstorm the other night. In the middle of March. After all the snow melted from a week and a half of June-like weather.

[Beenhere4ever]

Originally Posted by knke0204

Minnesota Tornadoes 2010: We're #1! | Updraft | Minnesota Public Radio

Minnesota Tornado History and Statistics

Tornado Alley Shift: 2010's Leading State - weather.com

I would say top 15 in the USA isn't bad. That's imore tornadoes than 70% of the states.

Lived here in the 60's. Our whole season could occur in a day in places south and east. I don't know where these sensational claims about Minnesota come from, but they run counter to my half century of experience. In the 80's tornadoes touched down in Edina, New Brighton, and Roseville. Har Mar and Apache Plaza were trashed. In that time frame, till the storm hit northside last year, only funnel clouds crossed Minneapolis and St Paul.

Past experience isn't a certain indication of future performance. But Joplin Missouri when we got something like it happened way down in St. Peter or over in Barnesville WI. Twin Citians are wimps compared to country folk of MN and WI.

[Globe199]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

Lived here in the 60's. Our whole season could occur in a day in places south and east. I don't know where these sensational claims about Minnesota come from, but they run counter to my half century of experience. In the 80's tornadoes touched down in Edina, New Brighton, and Roseville. Har Mar and Apache Plaza were trashed. In that time frame, till the storm hit northside last year, only funnel clouds crossed Minneapolis and St Paul.

A weak tornado hit downtown Minneapolis in August 2009. The Edina/Roseville tornado was in June 1981. (That killed one person.) The Apache tornado was in April 1984. That one was bad because it blew the roof off the Apache Plaza. Then it snowed a couple days later and promptly melted, flooding the place. Double-whammy!

Past experience isn't a certain indication of future performance. But Joplin Missouri when we got something like it happened way down in St. Peter or over in Barnesville WI. Twin Citians are wimps compared to country folk of MN and WI.

I can't quite understand what you're saying here, but the Joplin tornado was the worst (most deadly) this country had seen since 1947. The St Peter and Barneveld (not Barnesville) tornadoes were NOTHING compared to Joplin.

[Beenhere4ever]

Originally Posted by Globe199

A weak tornado hit downtown Minneapolis in August 2009. The Edina/Roseville tornado was in June 1981. (That killed one person.) The Apache tornado was in April 1984. That one was bad because it blew the roof off the Apache Plaza. Then it snowed a couple days later and promptly melted, flooding the place. Double-whammy!



I can't quite understand what you're saying here, but the Joplin tornado was the worst (most deadly) this country had seen since 1947. The St Peter and Barneveld (not Barnesville) tornadoes were NOTHING compared to Joplin.

I'm citing three cases of towns wiped out, two of them in our region. I don't consider fatalities as the one statistic that negates all others. The point is that it was far from any metropolitan area. I still say when you know the history of devastating tornadoes, our state isn't in the big leagues. In fact, our floods are worse than our tornadoes.

If you study reports of the Aug 19 2009 tornado, it is very consistent with other tornadoes.

A tornado touched down in south Minneapolis near East 53rd Street and Park Avenue around 1:50 pm CDT. The tornado moved north from that location toward downtown Minneapolis and eventually lifted near the Minneapolis Convention Center around 2:00 pm CDT. Damage was most intense and concentrated from East 45th Street north to East 38th Street, generally along Park, Oakland, Portland, and 5th Avenues. The tornado's track shifted slightly west of due north with time. The most intense damage was consistent with EF-0 intensity, with wind speeds between 75 miles per hour (121 km/h) and 85 miles per hour (137 km/h). Numerous trees were downed in the area, with damage to a number of homes and structures as well. Much of the structural damage was due to falling trees. The tornado track was approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) in length, although it may have lifted for a brief time between East 29th Street and the Convention Center area. Maximum track width was approximately 500 yards (457 m), although the most intense damage occurred along a path approximately 250 yards (229 m) wide. This tornado caused $500,000 in damage.[23][24]

This sounds a lot like the tornadoes of the 1980's. The damage to Central Lutheran indicates a funnel cloud going OVER the building. I was downtown for a job when the Har Mar tornado did the same thing over the building where I worked. The proximity caused one window to pop and fall to the street and shatter. Compared to damage in the suburbs, it was almost nothing. The 2009 tornado was actually a tornado south of Lake Street. It was a funnel cloud by the time it got as far as I-94. For almost my entire 48 years here, I must have heard hundreds of meteorologist explain the "heat island" effect that caused storm systems to pass over. Of course, over that same time period, climate change has altered the macrometeorological environment. But I still feel confident that compared to Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana and Ohio, we will always be a double A league in tornadic activity. Because we will be getting more severe as everywhere else is. Remember a tornado hit the St. Louis airport. It at least approached New York City. The brackets are in motion.