page_title: 1998 Comfrey–St. Peter tornado outbreak
section_title: Comfrey, Minnesota
hierarchical_section_title: 1998 Comfrey–St. Peter tornado outbreak / Outbreak description / Comfrey, Minnesota
caption_attribution_description: Tornado damage near Comfrey, Minnesota
context_page_description: The 1998 Comfrey–St. Peter tornado outbreak was an unseasonably-strong tornado outbreak which affected the Upper Midwest region of the United States on March 29, 1998. A strong area of low pressure combined with a warm front and favorable upper-level dynamics to produce 16 tornadoes across the region—14 in Minnesota and two in Wisconsin. Thirteen of the tornadoes in Minnesota were spawned by a single supercell thunderstorm. This supercell remained intact for approximately 150 miles as it moved across the southern part of the state during the late-afternoon hours.
  Over $235 million in damage was recorded from the tornadoes, two people were killed, and 21 others were injured. Most of the damage was caused by three tornadoes—one rated F4 on the Fujita scale that hit the town of Comfrey, Minnesota, an F3 that hit St. Peter, Minnesota, and an F2 that hit Le Center, Minnesota. Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter was especially hard-hit, with several buildings damaged or destroyed, 2,000 trees lost, and nearly 80% of the windows on the campus shattered. In Comfrey, 75% of the structures in the town were damaged or destroyed, including the local K–12 school.
context_section_description: At 3:50 pm a tornado touched down 7 miles (11 km) east of Avoca, Minnesota, in eastern Murray County. As the tornado moved through Cottonwood County, it grew to a width of 900 yards (823 m) and obtained F3 strength. It destroyed numerous farms, farm equipment, trees, power lines and poles, vehicles, and other structures in its path. A total of 20 people outside a church near Jeffers were able to get inside the church just before the tornado hit, and as a result nobody suffered serious injuries.
  At approximately 4:30 pm the twister, which witnesses described as a "mass of blowing dust" or "rolling fog bank" entered Comfrey, a town of 550 people located in both Cottonwood and Brown Counties. Comfrey's fire chief saw the tornado while storm spotting and ordered the town's sirens activated. The tornado moved through the center of Comfrey one minute after the sirens went off, and destroyed a grain elevator, the town hall, three of the town's four churches, the grocery store, and most of the main street businesses downtown. The town's firehouse collapsed, and the school was heavily damaged. Of the 200 houses in the town, all but 15 suffered damage. Fifty of those homes were destroyed and as a result 100 people were left homeless. Approximately 75% of the buildings in Comfrey were damaged or destroyed.
  As the tornado continued to move through Brown County it achieved F4 strength and grew to 1.25 miles (2 km) wide. Approximately 15% of the 1000 farms in Brown County sustained damage from the tornado, and 500 dairy cattle were lost. The tornado went on to cause additional damage in Blue Earth and Watonwan Counties. After traveling across six counties for 1 hour and 25 minutes and causing $75 million in damage, the twister lifted back into the clouds at 5:15 pm 4 miles (6 km) southeast of Courtland. In addition, 19 people were injured by this tornado.
caption: Damage to a house near Comfrey.
exif: {}