Remembering the Minneapolis Tornado of 2011

Last Thursday, May 22nd, was the anniversary of the EF-1 tornado that struck Minneapolis and some of its suburbs in 2011. I was living there at the time and, although the main path of destruction was over a mile away from my house, it was the closest I've ever been to a tornado, and my house might have been on the edge of it.

I remember that day being somewhat cool and cloudy, and we were aware of a severe weather risk, but I didn't think it would be that close to home. I don't remember much of the progress of the storm, but soon enough we had a tornado warning. My family was wise enough to go to the basement, but we looked outside for a little before going down. Once we saw the trees dancing in all sorts of directions, we went downstairs. No power went out, so we were watching the weather alerts live on TV. We got back upstairs once we were no longer in the tornado warning.

According to later estimates of the tornado's path, the tornado began in St. Louis Park, a western suburb, and ended near Blaine, a northern suburb. However, the strength was not constantly an EF-1. If you look at a "before and after" satellite image of the area, you will find that the damage scar is almost entirely within north Minneapolis. A comparison between a 2009 image and a 2012 image works pretty well, but any image from up to 10 years after 2011 works pretty well too to see the damage scar.

The tornado path through north Minneapolis, highlighted in red. You might notice how pale it looks compared to the rest of the image; the tornado destroyed a lot of trees.

The weather after the storm was rather quiet and warmer than the morning, and my block didn't get much damage other than some fallen branches, but there were many puddles. Since Memorial Day weekend was just a week after the storm, I remember my family taking a bike ride to Webber Parkway, near the Mississippi River. We saw many fallen trees, some of which we had to go around. Dowling Avenue, which my family drives on frequently, had not just fallen trees but torn roofs and, at worst, a completely destroyed garage. Theodore Wirth Parkway, on the other hand, which my family also drives on often, did not have much tornado damage. That road is on the bottom left corner of the image above, which leads me to believe that the damage was mainly in north Minneapolis. Therefore, I think the strongest stage of the tornado entirely within Minneapolis city limits - no more, no less. Once the tornado crossed the Mississippi River, it seems that the worst of it was over.

Generally, the tornado wasn't a killer, but it did destroy a lot of trees and damaged the homes in the center of its path. One man did die, however, from a tree falling on him. The tornado certainly wasn't as infamous as the one that happened in Joplin, Missouri, that same day. Nonetheless, it is a significant one in Minneapolis history, and certainly within my own life. There is also a playlist on YouTube with lots of footage and news reports from that event.