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Minnesota's annual tornado history since 1950

Posted at 10:09 AM on May 24, 2011 by Mark Seeley (4 Comments)

Since the events of last weekend, there have been many questions directed my way about Minnesota's tornado history. Greg Carbin of the NOAA-Storm Prediction Center has compiled the annual tornado statistics for MN since 1950. So here they are with the annual reported tornadoes shown in parentheses......please note the very low numbers associated with drought years (such as 1976 and 1988).

1950 (1) 1951 (3) 1952 (7) 1953 (8) 1954 (7) 1955 (11)
1956 (9) 1957 (16) 1958 (14) 1959 (14) 1960 (7)
1961 (8) 1962 (15) 1963 (7) 1964 (21) 1965 (30)
1966 (23) 1967 (28) 1968 (34) 1969 (26) 1970 (14)
1971 (21) 1972 (5) 1973 (22) 1974 (13) 1975 (14)
1976 (11) 1977 (25) 1978 (25) 1979 (25) 1980 (16)
1981 (41) 1982 (14) 1983 (20) 1984 (27) 1985 (26)
1986 (18) 1987 (21) 1988 (5) 1989 (11) 1990 (12)
1991 (37) 1992 (39) 1993 (47) 1994 (34) 1995 (33)
1996 (34) 1997 (47) 1998 (59) 1999 (36) 2000 (32)
2001 (73) 2002 (34) 2003 (47) 2004 (59) 2005 (71)
2006 (25) 2007 (18) 2008 (43) 2009 (24) 2010 (113)

Comments (4)

Would the fact that a lot of these numbers are higher within the last 20 years or so account for better technology that helps locate a larger number of tornadoes?

Posted by Noelle | May 24, 2011 12:08 PM

How many tornado's so far in Minnesota in 2011?

Posted by Steve | May 24, 2011 1:50 PM

Not sure about tornado numbers in Minnesota for 2011. The National Weather Service still has to determine that. One on May 10th (St Michael), and perhaps 4-5 on May 22. You can read more at..
http://www.climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/tornado_110523.htm

certainly technology has helped us detect these storms better and added to the counting statistics in recent decades.

Posted by Mark Seeley | May 25, 2011 8:37 AM

Boy, pretty interesting trend there. We are definitely in a different place in 2000-2010, then we were in 1950-1960.

When did doppler radar and trained spotters come on line?

Posted by Jeff Jorgensen | May 25, 2011 1:58 PM

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