141
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
1
Direct injuries
$10.4M
Property damage
Thunderstorm Wind in Rice County, Minnesota: 141 recorded events between 1962 and 2025. The strongest on record measured 96. That places the county #1,647 nationally and #38 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Thunderstorm Wind in Rice County, Minnesota: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for thunderstorm wind in Rice County is the 2010s, when 47 of the county's 141 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Rice County archive, thunderstorm wind makes up 34.8% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #1,647 for this hazard and #38 within Minnesota, putting it in the 47.7 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Jun is the peak month for thunderstorm wind in Rice County with 44 recorded events, while Jan is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 28, 1991 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $0 |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 29, 2025 | FARIBAULT ARPT | 50 | $0 |
| Apr 17, 2025 | FARIBAULT | 50 | $0 |
| Aug 29, 2024 | FARIBAULT | 52 | $0 |
| May 21, 2024 | FARIBAULT | 52 | $0 |
| May 12, 2022 | MORRISTOWN | 69 | $0 |
| Apr 24, 2022 | NERSTRAND | 52 | $0 |
| Apr 12, 2022 | MORRISTOWN | 61 | $10.0M |
| Sep 17, 2021 | LITTLE CHICAGO | 52 | $0 |
| Jun 18, 2021 | NORTHFIELD | 53 | $0 |
| Jul 20, 2019 | FARIBAULT | 52 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Rice County
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
There was significant wind damage from a downburst that expanded in width as it traveled northeast. By the time it stopped producing damage, it was 8 wide on either side of Nerstrand. The damage began east-southeast of Morristown (near the Rice, Waseca, and Steele County line), moved across the south side of Faribault, and northeast to near the Nerstrand Big Woods State Park and then Nerstrand. The damage path became more isolated as it exited eastern Rice county.||Numerous trees, power lines, roofs, and pole barns were damaged along this path. In addition, nine semi trucks were blown over on I-35 south of Faribault due to straight-line winds. Just over $1 Million dollars in damages were to public infrastructure, with remaining damages to houses, farms, and vehicles.
Roof off house, three barns down, roofs off three storage buildings, one storage building blown 1/4 mile, garage collapsed, several hundred trees downed. A 56 knot gust was measured in downtown Northfield at the Public Safety Building, with 40 to 50 knot winds persisting for another 10 minutes. Wind was stronger just outside Northfield, where stronger wind and the most severe damage occurred.
The local emergency manager surveyed an area from �� mile east of Faribault, on Minnesota Highway 60, southeast to approximately near 260th St E and Irwin Ave. The NWS also surveyed this area. Several areas in this 7 mile stretch had trees blown down or snapped off. Some of the trees were 80 feet tall, and snapped off 5 feet above the ground. There were also numerous power lines blown down in this location.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many thunderstorm wind events are on record in Rice County, Minnesota?
141 thunderstorm wind events are recorded in Rice County between 1962 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest thunderstorm wind recorded in Rice County?
The strongest thunderstorm wind on record in Rice County measured 96.
Where does the thunderstorm wind data for Rice County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Thunderstorm Wind in Rice County, Minnesota.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/minnesota/rice-county/thunderstorm-wind/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.