The few tornadoes that have struck Minnesota this year have been mainly confined to the northern half of Minnesota. Through July 3, 2002 there hasn’t been a tornado sighted south of St. Cloud. An F2 tornado was spawned on July 19th in Wilkin County 4 miles north of Rothsay. Listed below here is the National Weather Service Public Information Statement regarding the tornado.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA/GRAND FORKS 
530 PM CDT FRI JUN 21 2002

...JUNE 19TH TORNADOES RATED AS F0 AND F2...
THE TORNADO WHICH BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN FOUR MILES NORTH OF ROTHSAY 
MINNESOTA LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...JUNE 19TH...PRODUCED F2 RATED 
DAMAGE. A WEATHER SERVICE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT TEAM EXAMINED THE SITE 
THURSDAY AFTERNOON. TORNADO TOUCHDOWN OCCURRED AT APPROXIMATELY 445 
PM IN A NEARLY RAINFREE AREA A FEW MILES SOUTH OF A PATH OF HEAVY 
RAIN AND LARGE HAIL. DAMAGE WAS CONFINED TO A HILLTOP FARMYARD IN A 
PATH ROUGHLY 150 FEET WIDE BY 600 FEET LONG. A LARGE TURKEY BARN 
...MEASURING 76 FEET WIDE BY 296 FEET LONG RECEIVED CONSIDERABLE 
DAMAGE. THE MAJORITY OF ITS ROOF WAS COMPLETELY REMOVED FROM THE 
STRUCTURE AND DEPOSITED ACROSS THE FARMYARD AND SURROUNDING FIELDS. 
PORTIONS OF THE ROOF SUPORT STRUCTURE...RAFTERS AND BEAMS WERE TORN 
OUT AS WELL. DEBRIS FROM THE STRUCTURE WAS CARRIED MORE THAN 4 MILES 
TO THE EAST NORTHEAST BY THE STORM. DAMAGE PATTERNS SUGGESTED 
TORNADIC WIND SPEEDS IN EXCESS OF 125 MILES AN HOUR. THE TORNADO 
LIFTED RAPIDLY AFTER TOUCHDOWN AND LEFT A SECOND BARN AND AN AREA OF 
LARGE TREES VIRTUALLY UNSCATHED. 

THE ROTHSAY AREA TORNADO WAS FORMED BY A STORM SYSTEM THAT MOVED 
ACROSS NORTHERN RICHLAND COUNTY IN NORTH DAKOTA...AND NORTHERN 
WILKIN AND OTTER TAIL COUNTIES IN MINNESOTA THROUGH THE LATE 
AFTERNOON. THE STORM SYSTEM ALSO PRODUCED A BRIEF TORNADIC TOUCHDOWN 
IN NORTHERN RICHLAND COUNTY AROUND 420 PM. SEVERAL LARGE TREES WERE 
BROKEN DOWN AND ONE HOUSE RECEIVED SOME SHINGLE DAMAGE ALONG A PATH 
ROUGHLY ONE AND ONE HALF MILES LONG AND ABOUT 50 YARDS WIDE 
...APPROXIMATELY 3 MILES SOUTH OF COLFAX NORTH DAKOTA. DAMAGE 
SUGGESTED WIND SPEEDS OF AROUND 70 MILES AN HOUR...RANKING THIS 
COLFAX AREA EVENT AS AN F0 TORNADO. 
WARNINGS FOR THESE TORNADOES WERE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER 
SERVICE OFFICE IN GRAND FORKS AT 410 PM...WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. A 
TORNADO WATCH HAD ALSO BEEN POSTED FOR THE AREA BY THE NATIONAL 
WEATHER SERVICES STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OKLAHOMA...AND 
WAS IN EFFECT FROM 3 PM UNTIL 8 PM. 

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URL: http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/tornado020719.htm
Last modified: July 3, 2002