On July 1st, a high precipitation supercell caused widespread wind damage from near Wentworth South Dakota through Marshall Minnesota.  In addition to widespread wind damage of 80-110 mph, two brief tornadoes developed near Tyler and Ruthton MN.

Tyler Tornado

A tornado touched down on the southwest side of Tyler Minnesota around 3:57 pm cdt, and tracked northeast across town.  In addition to demolishing several outbuildings and storage facilities, numerous structures experienced total roof loss and damage to the exterior siding.  The most significant damage was noted in a path from near the intersection of County Road 8 and Highway 14, northeast towards Maple and Lincoln Streets.  This is where the tornado was rated a low end EF2 with estimated winds of 115 mph.  The tornado was at its widest in this area, where it was approximately one quarter mile wide. The tornado had a path length of approximately three miles. Widespread tree damage and tree-top debarking was also discovered.

Below are images of a Morton building that was destroyed by a tornado on the southwest side of Tyler, MN.  Trees were also snapped off at the base at this location. 

Below is an image of tree and house damage on the southwest side of Tyler, Minnesota.

Below are images near downtown Tyler, Minnesota where an EF2 tornado caused widespread damage. A Morton building was destroyed downtown when the garage doors failed in the strong winds.  The tornado caused the support beams to fail in rapid succession.

Ruthton Tornado

A second tornado touched down in Pipestone County around 3:50 PM CDT just southwest of the town of Ruthton. This tornado tracked northeast across the town of Ruthton toward the intersection of northwestern Murray and southern Lyon counties. The most significant damaged occurred on the south side of Ruthon just west of Highway 23 where several garages were damaged and one was completely cleared off the foundation. The tornado was rated a high end EF1 with estimated winds of 100-110 mph. The tornado was approximately one eighth of a mile wide and had a path length of approximately one mile.

Below are images from the Ruthton, Minnesota tornado. The first image was taken on the southern edge of Ruthton was a farmstead was damaged. The second image was taken on the north side of Ruthton near the cemetery where large trees were snapped.

In addition to the two tornadoes, widespread wind damage of 80-100 mph caused significant damage between Wentworth, SD to Marshall, MN.

Below are images of a Morton building destroyed northwest of Egan, SD.

Below are images of trees snapped and uprooted near downtown Flandreau, SD.

Below is an image of grain bins damaged 4 miles north of Verdi, MN.

Below is an image of trees uprooted east of Ruthton, MN near the Ruthton State Wildlife Management Area.

Storm Damage Survey of tornadoes from July 1, 2011