Video shows women flee to basement seconds before tornado strikes Minnesota home

Two women escaped disaster with seconds to spare when a tornado hit one of their homes on Friday in southern Minnesota.

Sitting with a friend in her Stewartville kitchen, Julia Batson kept an eye on the radar on her phone until their attention suddenly turned outside.

"As soon as the wind picked up, I'm like, 'we should head downstairs,'" Batson said, noting that the weather was initially calm outside despite the tornado warning.

As the women and two dogs hustled into the basement, a tornado was hurtling toward the home. Roughly 30 seconds after they stood up from their seats in the kitchen, the tornado hit. A collapsed ceiling and shattered windows landed on the very spot where they were seated.

The group was hiding in the maintenance room in the basement, unaware of the damage above.

"As soon as we get in there our ears just kind of popped, like the pressure felt really strong in the house," she said.

After a few minutes, Batson checked the surveillance camera feed on her phone to see if it was safe to head upstairs. They couldn't believe the image on the living room camera. Later that night, Batson finally watched the footage of when the tornado hit.

"We didn't realize how close we were. Like, if we didn't have the video footage, we would have never known how close we really were," she said.  

The damage across the house was extensive. There's a hole in the roof, several windows blown out and the back deck is destroyed. Despite that, Batson was grateful to be there. She and her friend were out to lunch but came home after learning of the tornado warning.

"Honestly, if we hadn't come home, I think our dogs would have been seriously injured just because I know where they like to hang out by the window on the couch to sunbathe, and I think they would have been harmed," she said.  

That tornado was one of five that hit Minnesota Friday, a few days after another tornado outbreak. On average, there's one tornado in April in Minnesota.  

Is climate change linked to an increase in tornadoes?

On average, there's one tornado in April in Minnesota. Across a year, the average is 46. Minnesota already has nine tornadoes this year.

The high count is a recurring theme across the Upper Midwest. Wisconsin averages 24 tornadoes a year and has already had 23 of them. Michigan average 13-16 per year and has had 14 so far.

Could it be connected to climate change? We asked Mike Augustyniak, WCCO's director of meteorology.

"I want to start by saying there is no documented [yet] relationship between the number of tornadoes and how our climate is changing and warming," Augustyniak said. "However, the conditions to get a tornado to form requires warm air, moisture and lift. And the number of days in the spring that those conditions are present, that is increasing."

Does this mean Minnesota and neighboring states are set up for a record year of tornadoes? That's difficult to predict, Augustyniak said, noting that wildfire smoke drifting down from Canada could impact several weather chances.

"There is no real correlation between how active of a spring season there is around here versus how active it will be during the summer," he said.

While El Niño and La Niña can drive severe weather seasons — which offers some level of predictability — neither is happening right now.

Last April, three tornadoes touched down in Minnesota. That's brings the total to 12 for April when combined with this year.