On June 17, 2009 the first tornado was reported in Minnesota in Wilkin County. Since 1950, The only other years that had not seen a tornado by this date are: June 19, 1951, June 23, 1952. Tornado statistics can be tricky. Over the years tornadoes reports have been increasing, but this doesn't mean that there are more tornadoes now than in 1950. Over time the ability to detect tornadoes has improved with better radar, trained spotting networks, and simply more people to see tornadoes. The population in Minnesota increased from about 3 million people in 1950 to about 5 million by 2000.
Along with the lack of tornadoes in Minnesota this year, there has been a lack of thunderstorms as well. Thunder has been reported at the Twin Cities International Airport on only 6 days so far through June 15, the average number of days with thunder is 12.
There are a couple of reasons why there haven't been any tornadoes in Minnesota so far in 2009. One factor in May was the dry spell over southern and central Minnesota. For the month of June, the boundary between warm muggy air and cooler air has stayed over Iowa and Missouri, keeping the severe thunderstorms south of the Minnesota border. For the United States as a whole through June 15 tornado counts are roughly average.
The Chanhassen National Weather Service provided a more detailed tornado list back to 1950.
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 110 AM CDT MON JUN 15 2009 UPDATED THE LAST SECTION REGARDING METRO WARNINGS ...LATE START THIS YEAR FOR MINNESOTA TORNADOES... THERE HAVE BEEN ONLY FOUR YEARS WITH A LATER START THAN THIS YEAR FOR THE TORNADO SEASON IN MINNESOTA...1950...1951...1952 AND 1992. THE LATEST DATE FOR THE FIRST TORNADO OF THE YEAR WAS JUNE 23 IN 1952. TORNADOES BEGAN BEING COUNTED IN 1950. HERE ARE THE DATES OF THE FIRST TORNADO IN MINNESOTA FOR EACH YEAR...AND THE COUNTY OR COUNTIES IN WHICH THAT TORNADO OCCURRED. IF THERE WERE MULTIPLE TORNADOES ON A GIVEN DAY...ONLY THE FIRST TORNADO OF THE DAY IS LISTED. 1950...JUNE 15....WILKIN 1951...JUNE 19....MCLEOD/WRIGHT/HENNEPIN/ANOKA 1952...JUNE 23....SWIFT 1953...MARCH 21...STEARNS 1954...MAY 30.....STEARNS 1955...APRIL 19...LINCOLN 1956...MAY 10.....NOBLES 1957...MAY 14.....DODGE 1958...MAY 24.....WASHINGTON 1959...MAY 4......REDWOOD 1960...MAY 19.....FREEBORN 1961...MAY 14.....WASECA 1962...MAY 18.....WATONWAN/BLUE EARTH 1963...JUNE 9.....WASECA 1964...APRIL 13...OLMSTED 1965...MAY 5......STEARNS 1966...JUNE 5.....PIPESTONE 1967...APRIL 2....FARIBAULT 1968...MARCH 18...WATONWAN 1969...MAY 31.....DODGE 1970...APRIL 15...STEVENS 1971...MAY 31.....JACKSON 1972...MAY 24.....BLUE EARTH 1973...MAY 9......MCLEOD 1974...APRIL 27...NORMAN 1975...MAY 11.....NOBLES 1976...APRIL 14...ST LOUIS/LAKE 1977...MAY 4......SWIFT 1978...MAY 27.....JACKSON 1979...MAY 17.....NOBLES 1980...MAY 26.....LINCOLN 1981...MARCH 25...MORRISON 1982...MAY 10.....TRAVERSE 1983...JUNE 12....AITKIN 1984...APRIL 26...STEVENS 1985...APRIL 20...MURRAY 1986...APRIL 26...NOBLES 1987...MAY 10.....GOODHUE 1988...MAY 7......CLAY 1989...MAY 24.....SIBLEY 1990...APRIL 23...SWIFT 1991...MARCH 20...FARIBAULT 1992...JUNE 16....NOBLES 1993...MAY 6......LYON 1994...APRIL 25...ROCK 1995...APRIL 18...MOWER 1996...MAY 2......ROCK 1997...JUNE 5.....WINONA 1998...MARCH 29...NOBLES 1999...JUNE 5.....SCOTT 2000...APRIL 27...CHIPPEWA 2001...MAY 1......BLUE EARTH 2002...MAY 28.....WILKIN 2003...MAY 14.....BROWN 2004...APRIL 18...NOBLES 2005...MARCH 30...MOWER 2006...MAY 7......POLK 2007...MAY 23.....GOODHUE 2008...MAY 25.....ANOKA TABULATING THE MONTHS IN WHICH THESE TOUCHED DOWN...THE MONTH OF MAY IS THE MOST COMMON FOR MINNESOTA TO SEE ITS FIRST TORNADO. MARCH....6 APRIL...14 MAY.....30 JUNE.....9 EARLIEST...MARCH 18 1968...6 MILES NORTH OF TRUMAN LATEST.....JUNE 23 1952....3 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BENSON FARTHEST NORTH...APRIL 14 1976...12 MILES NORTHWEST OF ELY AT BIG MOOSE LAKE..TO 12 MILES NORTHEAST OF ELY AT BASSWOOD LAKE FOR WISCONSIN...THE BADGER STATE HAS SEEN TWO TORNADOES THUS FAR IN 2009. THE FIRST WAS ON APRIL 26 IN GRANT COUNTY WHILE THE LATTER WAS ON JUNE 8 IN WAUKESHA COUNTY. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ALSO...THERE HAVE BEEN NO TORNADO WARNINGS ISSUED ANYWHERE IN MINNESOTA SO FAR THIS YEAR. SINCE 1986...THE FIRST TORNADO WARNING HAS COME IN JUNE SEVERAL TIMES. THE LATEST DATES ARE LISTED BELOW. THE NWS COMPUTER SYSTEM IS ONLY ABLE TO GO BACK TO 1986 TO RETRIEVE DATES OF TORNADO WARNINGS. 1...1995...JUNE 27 2...1988...JUNE 19 3...1992...JUNE 16 4...2009...JUNE 14 AND COUNTING -------------------------------------------------------------------- FINALLY...AND THE REASON FOR THIS UPDATE...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHANHASSEN HAS YET TO ISSUE A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OR TORNADO WARNING THIS YEAR FOR ANY PORTION OF THE SEVEN COUNTY TWIN CITIES METRO AREA. THIS MAKES 2009 AS THE YEAR WITH THE LATEST START TO WARNINGS FOR THE METRO. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS SET IN 1992 WHEN THE FIRST SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING WAS ISSUED ON JUNE 14. SINCE 1986...THE AVERAGE FIRST WARNING FOR THE METRO AREA HAS BEEN ON MAY 6. AS FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS...ONE THING TO REMEMBER IS THAT IN 2009 THE NWS OFFICES ACROSS THE MIDWEST CHANGED THE HAIL CRITERION FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER FROM THREE-QUARTERS OF AN INCH. BUT EVEN IF THE HAIL CRITERION WAS STILL THREE-QUARTERS OF AN INCH...IT IS DOUBTFUL THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN ANY WARNINGS THIS YEAR ANYWAY. $ FRIEDLEIN/KRAUSE