Two tornadoes — each with paths over 10 miles long — brought 100 mph gusts through Crow Wing and Cass counties on Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Duluth.
A survey crew issued a preliminary report late Tuesday night confirming the tornadoes’ timing, distance and severity. Both tornadoes happened between 4:20 and 5:15 p.m. They ranked EF-1, which is considered moderate, and caused damage to mostly to trees with no reports of injuries.
The first tornado started in Casino, Minn., and moved east 11.5 miles to Gull Lake. The second started in Merrifield, north of Brainerd, and ended near Irondale, just before Crosby.
Patrick Ayd, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth, said damage from the tornadoes was mostly downed trees but added: “some boats and docks flipped.”
0:32He said there were tornado warnings near Remer, Minn., southwest of Grand Rapids, and toward Hibbing as well. “We’re trying to see if there was any damage or not associated with those warnings,” he said.
Farther west, meteorologist Austin Perroux with the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, N.D., said there were no reports of damage, but they did have confirmation of tornado sightings near Perham and Richville in Otter Tail County.
He said the bulk of tornado reports were just east of his NWS coverage area in Cass County, which is where NWS Duluth crews are surveying damage.
