page_title: Climate of Minneapolis–Saint Paul
section_title: Tornadoes
hierarchical_section_title: Climate of Minneapolis–Saint Paul / Weather events / Tornadoes
caption_attribution_description: A tornado in Minnetonka, Minnesota
context_page_description: The climate of Minneapolis–Saint Paul is the long term weather trends and historical events of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in east central Minnesota. Minneapolis and St. Paul, together known as the Twin Cities, are the core of the 15th largest metropolitan area in the United States. With a population of 3.6 million people, the region contains approximately 60% of the population of Minnesota. Due to its location in the northern and central portion of the U.S., the Twin Cities has the coldest average temperature of any major metropolitan area in the nation. Winters can be cold, summer is warm and humid, snowfall is common in the winter and thunderstorms with heavy rainfall occur during the spring, summer and autumn. Though winter can be cold, the area receives more sunlight hours in mid-winter than many other warmer parts of the country, including all of the Great Lakes states, the Pacific Northwest, parts of the South, and almost all of the Northeast. Unless otherwise indicated, all normals data presented below are based on data at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, the official Twin Cities climatology station, from the 1981−2010 normals period.
context_section_description: The Twin Cities metropolitan area lies near the northern edge of Tornado Alley, and as such the region experiences tornadoes almost annually. The first recorded tornado observed in the Twin Cities metro area was in 1820 at Fort Snelling. A destructive tornado struck St. Paul in 1891.
  The worst tornado event to affect the Twin Cities was on May 6, 1965. On that day, six tornadoes touched down in several counties in and around the western and northern metro area, killing 13 people and injuring over 600. Four of the tornadoes were rated F4, two of which hit Fridley, Minnesota about an hour apart. This outbreak was notable because this was the first time in Minnesota history that civil defense sirens were used to warn people of impending severe weather. The live coverage by the Twin Cities media was also unprecedented. WCCO's continual broadcast of the weather situation is credited with warning people about the tornadoes and saving lives.
  In 1981 a twister dubbed the Har-Mar tornado touched down in Minneapolis, proceeding to affect the northern suburbs of the metro area, including killing a man near Lake Harriet. On July 18, 1986 a tornado touched down in Fridley, and video captured from KARE 11 news helicopter was broadcast live on their 5:00 pm newscast. The aerial video captured on that day was unprecedented at the time, and was heavily researched.
  On May 25, 2008 an EF3 tornado hit the town of Hugo during the Late-May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence. The twister damaged or destroyed several homes in the town, causing an estimated $25 million in damage.
caption: A tornado over Minnetonka, Minnesota on May 6, 1965.
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