Tornado outbreak of June 19, 1951

Five scattered tornadoes touched down across the Great Plains and Midwest on June 19, 1951. The event was highlighted by a large, violent F4 tornado that tracked for over 50 miles (80 km) through the western and northern suburbs of Minneapolis causing all the tornadic casualties from the outbreak. In all, one person was killed, 20 others were injured, and damage was estimated at $5.030 million (1951 USD). There were additional casualties from non-tornadic events as well.

Tornado outbreak of June 19, 1951

Type	Tornado outbreak
Duration	June 19, 1951
Tornadoes confirmed	5[1]
Max. rating^1	F4 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak^2	4 hours, 50 minutes
Damage	$5.030 million (1951 USD)[2]
Casualties	1 fatality (+1 non-tornadic), 20 injuries (+6 non-tornadic)
Areas affected	Great Plains, Midwest
Part of the tornado outbreaks of 1951 ^1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale ^2Time from first tornado to last tornado

Meteorological synopsis

A low-pressure area formed over Northeastern South Dakota very early on June 19. As other storms formed across the Central U.S. throughout the day, this low moved slowly eastward into Minnesota, becoming the focal point for locally strong to severe storms, including two that would produce a violent F4 tornado and a strong F2 tornado.[3]

Confirmed tornadoes

Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	Total
0	1	2	1	0	1	0	5

Note: Several tornadoes were reported in the CDNS report, but not confirmed in the final count:

• A tornado was sighted 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Ashland, Kansas, but it was not confirmed because it was not confirmed to have touched down. However, this may have actually been the tornado confirmed on the day instead of the Comanche County, Kansas F0 tornado. The tornado was spotted right before a hail and high wind storm, which originated about 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Ashland, moved southward, causing a 12 miles (19 km) wide swath of damage as winds flattened nearly ripe wheat, and hail caused extensive damage to crops and light damage to property. The damage ended about 2–6 miles (3.2–9.7 km) south of town.
• A small tornado, which was followed by hail, damaged a house, uprooted trees, and flattened 20 acres of corn and a garden at a farm 10 miles (16 km) east of Ottawa, Kansas.

June 19 event

List of confirmed tornadoes – Tuesday, June 19, 1951[nb 1][nb 2]

F#	Location	County / Parish	State	Start coord.	Time (UTC)	Path length	Max. width	Summary	Refs.
F1	NE of Alvord	Lyon	IA	43.38°N 96.25°W	22:00–?	0.5 miles (0.80 km)	17 yards (16 m)	A funnel cloud was observed with this tornado in Allison Township. Barns, granaries, corn crops, and trees were damaged, although no monetary damage value was given.	[3][5][6]
F4	Hutchinson to Rockford to Greenfield to Anoka	McLeod, Wright, Hennepin, Anoka	MN	44.88°N 94.37°W	23:30–01:00	52.6 miles (84.7 km)	330 yards (300 m)	1 death – See section on this tornado – There were 20 injuries and $5 million in damage.	[3][7][8] [9]
F1	SSW of Ardmore, SD	Sioux	NE	42.95°N 103.88°W	23:45–?	4.7 miles (7.6 km)	110 yards (100 m)	Tornado moved open farmlands 18 miles (29 km) north of Harrison. Losses totaled $2,500. The CDNS report stated that one person was injured, but this was not officially documented.	[3][10][11]
F0	WNW of Aetna	Comanche	KS	37.1°N 99.1°W	00:00–?	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	10 yards (9.1 m)	This tornado, which was accompanied by over 3 inches (7.6 cm) that damaged Coldwater, may have actually been the tornado that was reported in Clark County as this one supposedly occurred on June 20. It struck a farm, tearing down a new granary and a barn and damaging a car. The tornado may have crossed the state line into Oklahoma, but this was not confirmed. Losses totaled $2,500.	[3][12][13]
F2	Brownsville	Dodge	WI	43.62°N 88.5°W	02:50–?	1 mile (1.6 km)	467 yards (427 m)	This probable tornado was later confirmed. A large barn was obliterated with its contents scattered over a wide area, including two large beams that were impaled into the side of a farm house. Large trees were snapped "like match sticks" as well. Losses totaled $25,000.	[3][14][15]

Hutchinson–Rockford–Greenfield–Champlin–Anoka, Minnesota

Hutchinson–Rockford–Greenfield–Champlin–Anoka, Minnesota

F4 tornado
Max. rating^1	F4 tornado
Damage	$5 million
Casualties	1 fatality, 20 injuries
^1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

This violent F4 tornado, which may have been a tornado family, was first observed touching down McLeod County, and immediately striking the south side of Hutchinson at around 5:30 pm CT. The tornado skipped northeastward on a non-continuous path, passing south of Komensky and north of Sherman. The tornado then moved in Wright County and over Butler Lake as it passed north of Winsted and then over Lake Mary and Dog Lake. It then crossed over Fountain Lake and passed to the northwest of Delano before moving along the Crow River through Rockford on the boundary of Wright and Hennepin Counties. It then passed through Greenfield and the south side of Burschville before being spotted for the second time southeast of Fletcher. It was then spotted for the third time as it struck Champlin, crossed the Mississippi River and the Rum River, and moved through Anoka before finally dissipating at around 7 pm CT.

Damage along the path was extremely severe. An icehouse, warehouse, houses, barns and outbuildings were obliterated and about 50 city dwellings, buildings, and street carnival concessions were damaged. Additionally, plate glass windows were blown in, chimneys were toppled, windows were broken, billboards and signs were blown down, and cars were damaged or destroyed, power and communication lines were blown down, hundreds of trees were uprooted, and growing crops were damaged.

The tornado or tornado family was on the ground for at least an hour and 30 minutes, traveled 52.6 miles (84.7 km), was 330 yards (300 m) wide, and caused $5 million in damage. One person was killed and 20 others were injured. Heavy rain and hail accompanied the tornado as well. The same storm also produced a tornado report east of St. Paul at around 7:45 pm CT, but that turned out to be a just a well-developed funnel cloud that never touched the ground.[3][7][8][9]

Non-tornadic impacts

Six cottages, boat buildings, and one farmstead were damaged by wind and hail in Browns Lake, Iowa, injuring two. A line of storms also bought wind and hail from Elliott to Morton Mills, Iowa severely damaging a barn and a house with minor damage to numerous other buildings, including extensive breakage of glass by hail. Electric service was also disrupted and one person was injured. The strongest and most destructive line of storms moved from McCallsburg to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There was extensive damage from hail ranging from .5–1.75 inches (1.3–4.4 cm) in diameter and a fatality occurred due to over exertion in the storm. Three more injuries also occurred: a man was severely burned by an electric line and woman and her child were hospitalized after being braised by hail. There was considerable damage to farm buildings while minor damage was caused by falling trees all along track of storm. Hail damage was mainly to growing crops, but broken glass was also an issue in several towns. Several reported considerable damage, including McCallsburg, St. Anthony, Clemons, Garwin, Toledo, Tama, Vining, Elberon, and Keystone. There was also mainly public utility line damage in Belle Plaine and Cedar Rapids. There was also sporadic hail and wind damage in parts Oklahoma and Kansas and Bloomfield, Montana. This included Ellis County, Oklahoma, where hail was reportedly as much as a foot deep while winds damaged a church in Arnett, Oklahoma. A lightning strike in Southern Barber County, Kansas about 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Hardtner also caused a fire which destroyed a portion of a shed and along with the hay inside.[3]

See also

• List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

Notes

1. All dates are based on the local time zone where the tornado touched down; however, all times are in Coordinated Universal Time and dates are split at midnight CST/CDT for consistency.
2. Prior to 1994, only the average widths of tornado paths were officially listed.[4]

References

1. "June 19, 1951 Tornadoes". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
2. "Tornado Summaries". National Weather Service. National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
3. "Climatological Data National Summary Publication | IPS | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)". www.ncdc.noaa.gov. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
4. Brooks, Harold E. (April 2004). "On the Relationship of Tornado Path Length and Width to Intensity". Weather and Forecasting. Boston: American Meteorological Society. 19 (2): 310. Bibcode:2004WtFor..19..310B. doi:10.1175/1520-0434(2004)019<0310:OTROTP>2.0.CO;2. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
5. "Iowa F1". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
6. Iowa Event Report: F1 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
7. "Minnesota F4". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
8. Minnesota Event Report: F4 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
9. Minnesota Event Report: F4 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
10. "Nebraska F1". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
11. Nebraska Event Report: F1 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
12. "Kansas F0". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
13. Kansas Event Report: F0 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
14. "Wisconsin F2". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
15. "Wisconsin Event Report: F2 Tornado". National Weather Service. National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 21 October 2020.