Editing Austin, Minnesota (section)

===Major tornadoes===
[[File:Austinmn tornado damage.jpg|thumb|Tornado damage in Austin, 2009]]
On Monday, August 20, 1928, an F-2 sized tornado touched down on Winona Street (1st Avenue). The damage ran from the southern edge of Austin High School to the Milwaukee Road railyards on the city's east side. St. Olaf Lutheran Church, Carnegie Library, Main Street, the spire on Austin's former courthouse, Grand Theatre (replaced in 1929 by the Paramount Theatre), Austin Utilities, Lincoln School, and several boxcars at the Milwaukee railyards were damaged or destroyed. Austin residents noticed debris raining out of the sky, such as straw and laundry.

Another F-2 touched down in August 1961, at 808 18th Street SW. It quickly gained strength once on the ground, becoming an F-3 at 17th Street SW, where it destroyed a garage. The twister lifted briefly, touching down in the city fairgrounds and hitting the grandstand roof, tearing off parts and damaging beams.

In the summer of 1984, a tornado destroyed Echo Lanes Bowling Alley as it swept through southeast Austin. Neighboring Bo-Dee Campers also suffered considerable damage, and Schmidt TV was destroyed.

A tornado or straight-line winds took down massive amounts of branches and trees on Saturday, June 27, 1998, uprooting smaller trees and knocking large branches across streets. Several side streets in northwest Austin became impassable, including 8th Avenue NW (near Sumner Elementary School) and 14th Street NW (between I-90 and 8th Avenue). The event caused disruption in Sunday church services the next morning, and many congregations organized cleanup activities instead of regularly scheduled events.

A tornado touched down in Glenville on May 1, 2001, gaining strength before it turned into a F-3 headed for Austin. The twister dissipated shortly after hitting town, but did notable damage in both cities.

On Wednesday, June 17, 2009, an EF2 tornado touched down outside Austin and moved across the northwest and northern parts of the city, gradually weakening as it moved east. The worst damage in Austin was about {{convert|3|mi|0}} north of downtown. The visitors center at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center sustained damage, losing 300 trees. There were a few minor injuries.<ref>[http://www.crh.noaa.gov/arx/?n=jun1709 Austin, MN Tornado of June 17 2009]. Crh.noaa.gov. Retrieved on July 21, 2013.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.austindailyherald.com/2011/06/a%E2%80%88date-to-remember/ |title=A Date to Remember |last1=Peterson |first1=Matt |date=June 17, 2011 |website=Austin Daily Herald |access-date=March 24, 2016}}</ref>
{{wide image|Austin Minnesota downtown power plant.jpg|750px|alt=Downtown Power Plant, Mill Pond, and Horace Austin Park|Downtown Power Plant, Mill Pond, and Horace Austin Park}}