Outbreak Description
Temperatures on May 6 were in the upper 70s with high dewpoints, which was considered to be unusual for early May in Minnesota. A strong upper level system moving in from the southwest and a nearby slow-moving cold front helped spark the storms. These storms formed as training supercells; an atmospheric phenomenon that is extremely rare in Minnesota. Because of the training, the same general areas from Sibley County through Carver and Hennepin and into northwestern Ramsey counties kept getting the brunt of these cells.
Considering this outbreak occurred just three weeks after the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak, quick and successful warnings from the U.S. Weather Bureau and transmission from WCCO Radio kept the death toll relatively low. This was also the first time in Minnesota state history where civil defense sirens were used for severe weather purposes.
The first tornado touched down at 6:08 pm just east of the town of Cologne in Carver County. According to the U.S. Weather Bureau, this twister was rated an F4, killed three people, and injured 175. An F2 tornado that touched down in Sibley County at 6:43 pm killed one person and also injured 175 others.
Two tornadoes touched down in Fridley, just over an hour apart. In all, six people were killed in the Fridley tornadoes and over 180 were injured. Over 450 homes were destroyed in Fridley, and neighboring Mounds View also sustained heavy damage. A man who called WCCO radio after the first Fridley tornado claimed on air that he had been in his car when the tornado hit and that the tornado blew out his car windows. Although he is widely believed to have been killed by the second Fridley twister later that night (which did kill a 26-year-old man with a similar name), the caller was actually a teacher at Fridley Junior High School who survived. The tornado also damaged the sign adorning the Heights Theater in Columbia Heights. Photographs for the earlier Deephaven and second Fridley tornado were published in the Minneapolis Tribune (now Star Tribune) newspaper. Early radar images show the supercells as they moved through the area.
Read more about this topic: 1965 Twin Cities Tornado Outbreak
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