August 29th Tornado near Hill City MN

Photo of the supercell/tornadic storm by Justin Philips
Justin was in the Pine City/HInckley area when the photo was taken at about 7:30 pm.

A tornado touched down west of Hill City early evening on Thursday, August 29th. A skywarn spotter reported the tornado at 6:33 pm two miles east of Remer. The tornado then moved southeast. The Aitkin County sheriff's department reported that numerous trees had been blown down in the area and roads were blocked.

The National Weather Service in Duluth sent a damage survey team to the area. The results of the survey indicate that the tornado was rated on EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The tornado was on the ground for 12.8 miles and its width was about 300 yards. You can read the damage survey report here.

Below are graphics showing the tornado's damage path. Click on each image for larger picture.

Area that was surveyed:

Figure 2: Zoomed in Tornado Track

Figure 3: Even more zoomed in tornado and damage path

Aerial photo of the tornado path: Click on each for larger view.

Below are two radar images of the tornadic storm.

6:58 pm Reflectivity	6:58 pm Storm Relative Velocity

Animated radar image. The blue line is the rough tornado path. Reflectivity is on the left with storm relative motion on the right. Click to enlarge.

Skywarn Spotter Bob Conzemius took some great photos of the tornado. You can view them here.

This home just north of Remer received substantial damage from fallen trees. Fortunately there was very little other damage to structures along the tornado's path.