HAYFIELD, Minn. – A tornado ripped up fresh-plowed cornfields near Hayfield 20 miles southwest of Rochester, equidistant between Dodge Center and Brownsdale. The tornado caused no other damage. No one was injured. This was about 6:30 p.m. The tornado missed weather-tracking radar systems because the seminal centrifugal force was on the ground, like a waterspout over water. Radars are geared to see irregular tornadic patterns at higher altitudes.
Caught flat-footed. Despite their state-of art radar tracking systems, television meteorologists in Rochester all missed the Hayfield tornado. Its force was too close to the ground for radar to pick up. The first that station forecasters knew of the tornado was on videos submitted by viewers on cellphones. Image: Keith Sumner
