The Tornado outbreak of August 24, 2006, was an outbreak of 14

tornadoes A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alth ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

, and

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

on August 24, 2006. The outbreak spawned three F3 tornadoes, one of which caused a fatality in

Kasota, Minnesota Kasota is a city within the larger Kasota Township, Le Sueur County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 714 at the 2020 census. Geography Kasota is about halfway between Mankato and St. Peter on the eastern side of the Minnesota Riv ...

. The severe weather outbreak also produced many reports of severe hail which caused $130 million in damage across several states.

Outbreak description

A moderate risk of severe weather was issued by the SPC for August 24, with a significant threat for tornadoes, some of which could be strong. The main threat area ran from North Dakota southeastward into Minnesota and northern Iowa to western Wisconsin. The tornadoes began about noon central time in North Dakota, with three tornadoes produced there. Then, during the mid-afternoon hours, 11 more tornadoes touched down, 9 of which were in South Dakota. Two of the tornadoes in South Dakota were rated F3 on the

Fujita scale The Fujita scale (F-Scale; ), or Fujita–Pearson scale (FPP scale), is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The official Fujita scale category is deter ...

- one of which touched passed near the town of

Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figure ...

and another near

Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...

. The Wosley storm was one of four tornadoes spawned in the same area from

Wessington Wessington is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 576. It is in the North East Derbyshire district of the county. It is near to the towns of Matlock, Alfreton ...

to Cavour. The three others storms in Beadle County were rated from F0 to F2. The most destructive tornado of the day was a multiple vortex F3 tornado that hit the

cities of Nicollet and Kasota. It tracked a path of 33 miles, killed one person, and caused $30 million in damages. This tornado passed near but did not hit the city of St. Peter, which was devastated by the 1998 Comfrey – St. Peter tornado outbreak.

Casualties and damage

One person, a 90-year-old man, was killed when he was pinned by a tree while inside a home in Kasota. Thirty-seven people were reported to have had injuries from that tornado. Five others were injured in the remaining tornadoes on this day, and in all there was $44 million in damages.

Confirmed tornadoes

Non-tornadic events

A wider area, from

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

was also affected by large hail storms throughout the day. Southern Minnesota was especially hard hit, with hail to diameter reported in

New Prague New Prague ( ) is a city in Scott and Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 7,321 at the 2010 census. History Origin New Prague was laid out in 1856, and named after Prague, the capital of Bohemia (now the Czech Re ...

, and $50 million in property damage sustained in and around Northfield. Two car dealerships in Northfield lost their entire inventory of vehicles. In Minnesota there was $125 million in hail damage reported.

References

External links