Tornado in Otter Tail County, Minnesota

This tornado began in Grant County, but after about two miles, it crossed into Otter Tail County, where it ended about 5 miles east of Dalton. The total track through both counties was about 9 miles. Peak winds were estimated at 170 mph, based on available damage indicators. At least 10 farmsteads were impacted, with three homes, one pole shed, and one machine shed destroyed.

This tornado began in Douglas County, Minnesota. It moved northward into Otter Tail County and produced an additional 38 miles of continuous damage path. The tornado destroyed numerous homes and farmsteads along its path, completely sweeping 7 homes from their foundations. At times, this multi-vortex tornado complex consisted of multiple tornadic tubes pivoting around a common center. Peak winds were estimated at 175 mph.

The tornado caused quite a bit of damage along its path across southeast Otter Tail county before it crossed into Todd county. At one farmstead, 9 people huddled inside a house with no basement as its roof was torn off. Nobody was injured, but another trailer home nearby was completely destroyed. Many irrigation systems were overturned, trees, power poles, and lines snapped, and grain bins destroyed by the strong wind. An estimated 100 poles were broken off leaving nearly 1,100 people without power. At another farm, a 40×80 foot pole barn was wrecked. About 6 miles northeast of Parkers Prairie, a man and his two kids rode out the storm in their minivan inside a quonset. Trees all around them and the quonset were crumpled by the wind, yet they survived. Another farmstead lost a house, trailer home, and two silos. A turkey barn containing 12,000 turkeys was also hit, with an estimated 60 percent of the turkeys perishing.