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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Cottage Grove, MN

Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.

No tropical storm or hurricane has passed within 75 miles of Cottage Grove, Minnesota since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 106 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 8 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
0

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
0

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
106

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
8

23 deaths in all

Tornadoes within 25 miles of Cottage Grove

By decade

  • 2020s16
  • 2010s20
  • 2000s18(1 EF3+)
  • 1990s17
  • 1980s10(3 EF3+)
  • 1970s6
  • 1960s12(2 EF3+)
  • 1950s7(2 EF3+)
Strongest tornadoes near Cottage Grove, Minnesota
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
May 6, 1965F422 mi17.3 mi6 / 158
May 6, 1965F422 mi6.8 mi3 / 175
Jul 20, 1951F317 mi11.6 mi5 / 40
May 25, 2008EF323 mi5.96 mi1 / 17
Apr 26, 1984F319 mi5.5 mi1 / 52
Jun 14, 1981F311 mi16.2 mi1 / 83
Jul 27, 1987F321 mi30 mi0 / 0
May 24, 1958F317 mi59.4 mi0 / 12
May 10, 1953F213 mi105.7 mi4 / 27
Jul 14, 2010EF218 mi15.2 mi0 / 0
May 9, 2001F222 mi12 mi0 / 1
Mar 29, 1998F223 mi3 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 106, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

How to read this page

A storm is listed when the centre of its track passed within 75 miles of Cottage Grove while it was at least a tropical storm, which is the reach of damaging wind and rain for a typical hurricane. Being on the list does not mean the city took a direct hit; the "closest" column says how near the centre came. Tornadoes are counted when any part of the path came within 25 miles.

Tornado records before the 1990s are thinner, because weak tornadoes in open country often went unreported before Doppler radar and mobile phones. A rise in the decade counts is mostly better reporting, not a change in the weather.

Tracks come from the National Hurricane Center's HURDAT2 database, tornadoes from the Storm Prediction Center's database. Both are the official federal records and both are revised as old storms are re-analysed.

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