MPR’s Bill Catlin traces path of the storm that devastated farms and towns in southern Minnesota. Reports includes firsthand accounts of the storm and tornadoes.

Officials of the National Weather Service are still analyzing the storm that sawed through southern Minnesota, leaving a trail of ruin over at least four counties. The weather service says it appears a single so-called super-cell thunderstorm was responsible for the tornadoes.

Frequently referred to as the 1998 Comfrey–St. Peter tornado outbreak, 14 tornadoes (including an F3 & F4) wrought destruction in southern Minnesota on March 29, 1998. More than 3,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed by the tornadoes. The towns of St. Peter and Comfrey were utterly devastated. Storms left two people dead and dozens injured.