40
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
3
Direct injuries
$32.1M
Property damage
Tornado in Rice County, Minnesota: 40 recorded events between 1959 and 2025. The strongest on record measured F3. That places the county #620 nationally and #13 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Rice County, Minnesota: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Rice County is the 2010s, when 14 of the county's 40 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, tornado makes up 9.9% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #620 for this hazard and #13 within Minnesota, putting it in the 78.6 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Sep is the peak month for tornado in Rice County with 11 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.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987-07-27 | EF3 | 30.0 mi | 220 yd | Crossed in |
| 1982-05-17 | EF3 | 46.0 mi | 100 yd | Crossed in |
| 2018-09-20 | EF2 | 3.0 mi | 600 yd | Touched down here |
| 2018-09-20 | EF2 | 4.9 mi | 300 yd | Touched down here |
| 2001-05-09 | EF2 | 12.0 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 1998-03-29 | EF2 | 5.0 mi | 440 yd | Touched down here |
| 1995-09-06 | EF2 | 8.0 mi | 250 yd | Touched down here |
| 1968-05-15 | EF2 | 15.4 mi | 333 yd | Touched down here |
| 2025-04-28 | EF1 | 3.3 mi | 175 yd | Touched down here |
| 2021-05-19 | EF1 | 1.2 mi | 25 yd | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15, 1968 | F2 | 0 | 2 | $250K | |
| May 10, 2001 | NORTHFIELD | F2 | 0 | 1 | $9.0M |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 2025 | MOLAND | EF1 | $0 |
| Apr 28, 2025 | WARSAW | EF0 | $0 |
| Jul 13, 2024 | MOLAND | EFU | $0 |
| May 20, 2021 | LITTLE CHICAGO | EF1 | $0 |
| May 20, 2021 | DUNDAS | EF0 | $0 |
| May 20, 2021 | WARSAW | EF0 | $0 |
| May 20, 2021 | WARSAW | EF0 | $0 |
| May 20, 2021 | WARSAW | EF0 | $0 |
| Sep 20, 2018 | NORTHFIELD | EF1 | $0 |
| Sep 20, 2018 | DUNDAS | EF0 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Rice County
- Hail 179
- Thunderstorm Wind 141
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
NWS damage survey rated the tornado an F2. Tornado touched down briefly in downtown Northfield, flipping over a semi trailer truck and lifting the roof off of one business. Three-fourths mile later, it touched down again on the east side of Northfield, and then remained on the ground for 11 miles. After being in Rice County for 5 miles, it crossed Highway 19 into Dakota County and then dissipated in Goodhue County 4 miles west of Cannon Falls, for a total of 12 miles. Numerous rear flank downdraft gusts estimated at 90 mph caused damage alongside the southern periphery of tornado track. One man sustained minor injuries when he was blown from a tractor, but did not require hospitalization. A total of 8 homes received major damage, 22 more had minor damage, and a turkey processing plant was destroyed.
A storm survey revealed an EF1 tornado developed just east of Cannon City, and tracked east-southeast for around 3.7 miles. Trees were uprooted and a branch completely impaled an outside wall of a home. Winds were estimated at 90 mph, with a duration of 5 minutes. No injuries were reported.
A NWS storm survey, plus areal footage of drone, fixed wing aircraft, and satellite data, concluded that an EF2 tornado tracked nearly 5 miles from southwest of Morristown, north-northeast to just west and north of Cannon Lake before lifting. ||Tornado damage was consistent with EF2 damage with winds up to 130 mph, and a maximum path width of 300 yards. The worst damage occurred on the southeast side of Morristown. ||On the southeast side of Morristown, several family homes had large sections of roof structure removed, and a few had all their exterior walls collapsed. Only small interior rooms were intact. The remainder of the tornadic track was consistent with uprooted trees, power lines, corn and soy bean field damage, and outbuildings.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Rice County, Minnesota?
40 tornado events are recorded in Rice County between 1959 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Rice County?
The strongest tornado on record in Rice County measured F3.
Where does the tornado 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
“Tornado in Rice County, Minnesota.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/minnesota/rice-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.