RSS FeedsSeptember 16, 2006: Evening Tornado Strikes Rogers
During the late afternoon and evening hours of Saturday September 16th, 2006, a strong upper level disturbance and a strengthening surface low pressure center moved from the central plains into west central Minnesota. In response, thunderstorms developed rapidly over western Minnesota during the late afternoon before evolving into central and southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin into the evening. The storms briefly diminished in intensity during the early evening, before increasing again across the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities between 9:30 PM and Midnight. In that time, a series of very intense storms resulted in localized damage centered in the community of Rogers. The damage in Rogers was confirmed to be from a tornado. More can be found in the Damage Survey section below.
An unusually moist and unstable air mass as well as strong low-level atmospheric winds were large contributors to the amount of severe weather that occurred. Below is a surface weather map at 9 pm that evening, with the color representing surface dew points (moisture in the near-surface air). Dew points in the mid to upper 60s are roughly 15 to 20 degrees above mid-September normals for central Minnesota.
Severe weather may me more common than one may think across Minnesota and Wisconsin in September. Click here for more.
To see official storm reports from the event, click here to jump to a Storm Data excerpt. The images below depict locations where severe hail and wind reports were received during or soon after the event by the National Weather Service from local government officials or trained storm spotters. Click on the thumbnails for a larger version of the image.
 Damaging Wind Reports |
 Large Hail Reports |
National Weather Service employees determined that the damage in Rogers on September 16, 2006 resulted from a tornado. This tornado unfortunately claimed the life of one person. It was determined that the tornado touched down near 9:52 PM. The survey results show that the path length was 7 miles, from 3.5 miles west of downtown Rogers to the city of Dayton. The tornado was rated an F2 on the Fujita Scale and had a maximum width of 100 yards. Estimated monetary property damage was $30 million.
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Radar reflectivity image from the NWS Chanhassen Doppler Radar at 9:54 pm CDT, centered on northern Hennepin County. |
