Severe Thunderstorms trek across Polk and Barron Counties with wind damage, and sigificant hail damage in some areas. one storm past over my location.

Wall Cloud just west of my house, over Clayton July 20th

Severe Storms were again a part of the weather today, as storms tracked over parts of Polk and Barron counties that produced wind damage, even some significant hail along with structural in a few locations.

The first storm started out in Northeast Polk County and tracked Southeast over Northern and Eastern Barron County. It started producing severe hail at Mckinley in Polk County where 1.25" hail was reported. This storm started producing severe winds by the time it reached just east of Cumberland.some significant roof damage was done to a barn east of Cumberland. At this point the storm became very strong right before hitting Rice Lake. Rice Lake reported hail 1.75 in size, with trees down in parts of the city. One report southeast of Rice Lake even came in at a 2.50 inch hail. This storm continued to produce severe hail as it hit Canton, before moving out of the local area.


Video of the wind in the storm at my location.

The second storm hit Polk County, from the Northwest portion, through the central, part to the southeast part. This storm effected my location. It started out becoming very strong just south of Grantsburg, It moved southeast and hit places such as Milltown and Balsam Lake. Half dollar sized hail was reported in Balsam Lake, This storm then hit Range where A funnel cloud was reported, The storm continued southeast and had Clayton right in it's path. From my view, I could see a non-rotating wall cloud that moved just west of my house, so about over Clayton. a video of the wall cloud can be seen here. The storm also had intense cloud to ground lightning strikes, with thunder immediately after the lightning. I had one very close strike just North of my house.
Hail in my yard, taken well after storm.


Shortly after the rain and hail started, Most of this hail was dime sized, but some were up to nickel sized, and the hail didn't last long. After the hail, the wind hit, and blew strongly from the Northwest, Then as quick as the storm came, it was gone. There was no damage in my area from wind, and only minor damage from hail, I did see a few leaves in the trees get stripped. Strongest wind gust was 25MPH from my gauge and 0.27" of rain.




Radar Image showing how after the storm hit Range, The center of rotation passed directly over Clayton, which can be seen as the small curve in this image. I did hear the sirens going off in Clayton for this storm, which they normally don't sound for severe thunderstorm warnings, but the county must have though this situation was special enough to sound it, I do believe it was a very close call, things could have been much worse in Clayton.



Beans with Hail Damage Between Clayton and Range just off County Road D


Shortly after the storm was over at my house, I got a call from my friend who said there was some fairly significant tree damage in Range, a small community about 4 miles Northwest of Clayton. I got a ride with him to go view the damage and I was surprised what I saw, The damage started at the Clayton Township Hall about 2 miles away from Clayton, and continued to get progressively worse as we headed towards Range. Cornfields in this area were stripped to almost nothing, Hail 1.75" in size was reported in this area.

Road covered in leaves in Range.

As we gone into Range, we could see shredded leaves, as though someone put trees in a blender and threw it on the road. There were large trees in the road, that has been removed before we got there.




Tree down in Range



There were multiple trees, and large portions of trees down in Range from this storms, even smaller ones in the photo above came down.








The oddest part about the damage was how this portion of a tree ended up in a power line, I still could not think of any way how this would have happened. This photo was taken Range

Damage Reports

Rice Lake area storm

1.25" hail Mckinley.

4miles SE Rice Lake 2.50" hail

Cumberland, Funnel Cloud.

4 miles E of Cumberland, Turkey barn roof blown off.

Rice Lake 6 inch diameter tree blown down

Canton, 1" inch hail.

Polk County Storm

1.25" hail Balsam Lake

1.75" 2 miles SE of Range

Range, Funnel Cloud.

0.88" hail Clayton

Wall Cloud, Clayton.