1979-06-28 Iowa/Minnesota tornadoes.

[Kevin Walters]

A late June tornado outbreak took place 31 years ago today in Minnesota and Iowa. A strong short wave move SE from the Dakota's into Minnesota and Iowa. NW flow at 500mb was in excess of 50knots along with very steep mid level lapse rates. Dew points across Iowa increased into the low 70's by early afternoon. The first tornado was reported in extreme SE North Dakota around 2PM. As the storms continued to develop into Minnesota during the late afternoon several tornadoes were reported. The supercells were isolated and slow moving. The tornadoes were highly visible, from over ten miles away in some cases. Algona, Iowa was hit by an F3 tornado that destroyed many homes and killed two people. At 7:45 PM Manson, Iowa took a direct hit from an F4 tornado that killed three people and destroyed 25 businesses and over 100 homes. The tornado moved through town at less than 20 mph. Webster City, Iowa escaped a large and probably violent tornado as it passed about a mile to the east of town. Vince Miller was chief meteorologist for WOI television in Ames in June 1979. He told me that he called his wife In Jewell, Iowa and told her to get the kids in the basement because there was a tremendous "hook" on his radar just to the NW of their home. Some of the tornadoes were on the ground for up to an hour or more.

 

[Amanda Farnham]

Happened to be thumbing through my Significant Tornadoes book and there is a picture of this tornado.

 

[John Paulson]

I have a question about this specific night. Were there also Severe Thunderstorm warnings issued with the threat of winds of up to 90 MPH. I ask because I remember a night in 1979 where we in Freeborn County MN had a tornado warning. I was out playing when the warning was issued as there was no immediate weather threatening us and we ran over to our neighbors house who had a basement.(We lived in a trailer house). The warning expired and was not reissued. Not to long after that as we had gone home our old fire department phone warning system rang with a severe thunderstorm warning with the threat of destructive winds. So back we ran to the neighbors house and basement. LAte on that night if I remember correctly a tornado warning was issued. We ended up in the basement for what seemed forever but was lie 2 or 3 hours if I remember correctly. And this seems to be the correct time frame for this event.