Minnesota is leading the nation in the number of tornados reported so far during 2010.

And June 17 is now the record holder for tornadoes in Minnesota.

The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service says that Minnesota has had 123 reports of tornados as of Thursday.

Minnesota’s 123 reports tops Texas at 87, Kansas at 80 and Oklahoma 70 during the same period. The agency was measuring reports of tornados, not confirmed storms.

The National Weather Service also reports: “June 17, 2010, will go down as the day with the greatest single-day tornado total in Minnesota history.”

Albert Lea is covered by the Chanhassen station of the National Weather Service. It covers 42 counties in Minnesota and nine in Wisconsin.

It reports there were 25 tornadoes in its area — all of them in the Minnesota portion — on June 17.

Seven of them began in Faribault County. Seven began in Freeborn County. Three began in Steele County.

The rest started in Douglas, McLeod, Blue Earth, Sherburne, Wright and Chisago counties.

Of the 25, only two reached the strength of EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

One started as EF1 in Douglas County northeast of Leaf Valley and reached EF4 in Otter Tail County.

The other landed as an EF4 one mile west northwest of Mansfield and headed in a northeasterly direction.

Other tornadoes in the Albert Lea area ranged from EF0 to EF3 that day.

The National Weather Service said surveying the damage to determine wind speeds was complicated because “there were multiple occasions when a tornado dissipated and a new one formed within a quarter mile.”