Rochester Area Storm Suspected of Producing Three Tornadoes

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- The National Weather Service suspects three tornadoes formed during Saturday's severe weather outbreak in Rochester and across southeast Minnesota, northern Iowa and western Wisconsin.

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Meteorologists so far have confirmed one twister, an EF-0 that touched down in Houston County, just north of Houston around 3 p.m. The funnel had an estimated peak wind speed of 81 mph and cut a nearly 4.5 mile path in the five minutes it was on the ground. There were no injuries reported but the tornado damaged at least one barn along with patches of trees and grass.

The timing and location of the two other suspected tornados has not been released. The National Weather Service La Crosse says survey teams are investigating wind damage in northern Iowa.

Rochester was part of a tornado warning that was issued around 1:30 p.m. Meteorologists have yet to confirm if a twister touched down in the med city, but heavy rain and strong winds from the tornado-warned storm were captured by a MnDOT traffic camera.

The storm did bring a maximum wind gust of 66 mph and at least three inches of rain throughout the Rochester area, according to the storm report. Rochester Public Utility crews worked throughout the night Saturday and into the day Sunday to get the power back on for an estimated 3,500 customers. Crews had the outages restored by Sunday evening. 

The most rain tallied in Olmsted County was over 3.8 inches west of High Forrest. The Cedar River near Lansing picked up nearly 5.5 inches to lead Mower County locations, while Wykoff picked up over 4.5 inches to lead Fillmore County. The storm summary indicates Houston County and Wisconsin's Vernon County were hardest hit by Saturday's storms.