Severe Weather Report, Grantsburg area tornado rated EF0 to EF1 on the Minnesota side. Damage also reported in Yellow Lake area of Burnett County.

Radar image showing thew storm just entering Grantsburg in Burnett County.

Yesterday was quite and active and even scary day for Much of Minnesota, and Wisconsin, as Tornadic Thunderstorms developed across much of the region. Including one that hit part of Burnett County.

Scary-looking Mammatus Clouds pass overhead my house as a Tornadic thunderstorm passed to my Northwest June 17th 2010

All of the Severe Weather in our area has been centered over Western Burnett County, in the Grantsburg area, where a tornado was reported across several locations. Following the storm that hit this area, Thunderstorms first exploded over Central Minnesota in the afternoon, Many tornado's were reported West of the Twin Cities Metropolitan, the storms weakened some as they moved NE north of the Metro, but then strengthened as they approached western Burnett County, This storm dropped a tornado about 7 Southwest of Grantsburg, on the Minnesota side of the St Croix River, This storm was rated a EF1, which did some significant damage about a half mile west of the Wisconsin state line on Highway 70, the damage was severe enough that the highway had to be closed for a time Thursday night. This tornado continued Northeast, and passed just to the west of Grantsburg, Thankfully just missing the populated areas of the Village of Grantsburg, The tornado dissipated about 2 miles NW of Grantsburg, but the storm continued to produce damage as it moved Northeast, the radar at this time was picking up some pretty strong rotation, Damage was reported in the small community of Yellow Lake, which is just north of Webster, 2 people were injured in Minnesota, but thankfully, no one was killed.

This tornado came as a very scary reminder to the people of Burnett County, because it hit one day before the 9 year anniversary of the June 18 2001 Siren tornado, which produced significant damage in Siren.


At 9:18PM as I sat next to my computer covering the storm on my blog, we had a complete power failure, A sign that the storm up in Burentt County was doing significant power line damage. I picked up Trace of rain yesterday from light thunderstorms.


NWS Damage Reports so far.

5 Miles W of Grantsburg in Minnesota. Tornado Crossed Highway 70 a half mile from the Wisconsin State line, Highway 70 is closed due to debris on the road.

5 Miles S of Grantsburg, Funnel rotating up and down, but no debris visible.

3 Miles W of Grantsburg, Power lines down, and damage to a house near Grantsburg on highway 70, likely tornado damage.

2 Miles ENE of Grantsburg, observed tornado, the tornado blew some large branches and threw some small derbies a couple hundred yards

6 Miles WNW of Webb Lake, Tornado on the ground near Staples Lake Road.

Image from SPC

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman,Oklahoma Continues a Moderate Risk! for Severe Thunderstorms on Thursday for most of the Upper Midwest. This includes most of the 6 county blog coverage area!

A fairly strong system with a lot of moisture to work with will slide into the area with a warm front Thursday afternoon and evening, Severe Thunderstorms are expected to first break out in Western Minnesota, then slide East into Eastern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin during the evening hours, The highest threats will be strong Damaging strait line winds but Large Hail, maybe a tornado may also be possible. The Storm Prediction Center has a 45% wind risk in parts of Minnesota and Western Wisconsin for this system. This is the highest risk of severe weather our area has had so far this year.

My forecast guess below!

Severe Thunderstorm Chances, One of the more sigificant chances in a long time, And weather looking Nice for Cheese Days!

Regional View.





A Hot and Active Day expected on Thursday for much of the Upper Midwest, with the chance of Severe Thunderstorms appearing like a real possibility for Northern Iowa, Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. Things clear out and dry nicely for the weekend, but highs will remain on the warm side!

Local View.

There will be no looking ahead forecast due to the focus needed for the severe weather threats for tomorrow. I've also extended the forecast to cover the entire weekend because of festival events being held in my community this weekend. This forecast may be changes before Thursday afternoon.

Severe Weather Potential Thursday

It is going to be a tough Thursday to forecast for becuase of the concern for Severe Thunderstorms, Including here in the 6 county area around the time of the late afternoon to evening. This is worth mentioning becuase this is one of the more better chances for Severe Weather we've had so far this season. Right now the models show a low pressure system, Warm/Cold front passing through tomorrow, with the warm front pushing through sometime in the morning hours, with a cold front passing through early Friday, Right now it appears Thunderstorms breaking out in Minnesota, then it shows a line of thunderstorms developing and moving east possible effecting the local area around evening time, but I also don't want to rule out the chance that a few storms may fire along the warm front in the morning hours, People in the area should keep a close watch on the weather Thursday, for the possibiltiy of severe weather.

Wind and Warmth

before the possible evening strong thunderstorms Thursday it will be very warm and windy, with winds gusting to 30MPH from the south, Temperatures will be in the mid to upper 80s across the entire area, with dew points near if not in the mid 70s will make for quite a hot sticky day across the area, much of which people are not used to after spending over a week in the 60s.

Weather for Clayton Cheese Days

All the strong to severe storms will be pushed our well in time for the starting of Cheese Days on Friday, I looks to remain dry and pleasant the entire 3 days ( shaded in purple below) with sunny skies and highs on the warm side in the low 80s. late Sunday might have the chance for a few storms late, but even this appears low! Daily Forecast Below.

Thursday, Partly Cloudy at first, Hot & Humid, then Thunderstorms Developing late in the evening, storms may be Strong to Severe. Highs in the middle to upper 80s. Thursday Night, Thunderstorms Possible, Some may be strong, Lows in the mid 60s.

Friday, Partly Cloudy and Warm, Highs in the low 80s. Friday Night Partly Cloudy, lows in the low 60s.

Saturday, Partly Cloudy, and Warm, looking nice for the parade! highs in the low 80s. Saturday Night, Partly Cloudy, lows in the low 60s.

Sunday, Partly Cloudy, A slight chance of thunderstorms late. Highs in the low 80s Sunday Night, A chance of Thunderstorms, lows in the low 60s.

Very Heavy Rain across portions of the area up to 3 inches, First Tornado Warnings of the season & Very Interesting rainbow pictures!

Storm clouds from a storm to the west, storm eventually passed overhead June 15th.

Today was a surprisingly active day across the area for Thunderstorms, including a couple of scary moments in the afternoon when a couple Tornado Warnings were issued for portions of the area. Thunderstorms began forming off a trough which was centered just West of the 6 county over a line from Lake Elmo,Minnesota Northward to North Branch,Minnesota and even father Northwest into MN,

First Tornado Warnings of the season

The storms first started forming in SW St Croix County, storms were forming in clusters from River Falls to Osceola, Shorty after this is when things started to get a bit active, for a short time radar was detecting some fair amount of rotation in thunderstorms near Balsam Lake in Central Polk County, and near Baldwin in Southern St Croix County, causing the NWS to issued the Tornado Warnings of the season for these areas. Luckily by the end of the evening, there were No reports of tornado's or funnel clouds, or damage anywhere in the area.

Heavy Rainfall

Very heavy rainfall fell over parts of the area as well, as thunderstorms kept developing and training very slowly over the same areas, The heaviest bouts fell over portions of Western Burnett, Western Polk, Central St Croix, Northeastward through eastern Polk/Western Barron Counties. Radar suggests as much as 3 inches in parts of Western Polk County, over Osceola and St Croix Falls, but especially over Dresser, another area that picked up very heavy totals is Central St Croix County where up to 2 inches of rain fell over Roberts and Baldwin. My area also got into the action, I has multiple Thunderstorms pass over with bouts of moderate to heavy rain, I ended out with a total of 0.66" of rain for the daily total. Storms eventually moved East Northeast over the rest of the area, but they weakened quite significantly as they moved east, here between 0.25" to half an inch of rain was reported.

Some of the highest Rainfall Reports below.

Osceola 2.42"

New Richmond 0.73"

Clayton-My Station 0.66"

Amery 0.56"

Woodville 0.42"

Siren 0.37"

Rainbow June 15th

As the rain came to an end, Sunshine finally broke out across at my place for the first time in a week, This made for the neatest looking rainbow I've seen in a long time, The end of the rainbow, also known where the "pot of gold" is! appeared to end at the end of the feild between my house, and the neighbors!

Here is another picture showing the intense colors of the end of the rainbow, right above an old, large White Oak tree across the field from my yard!

Here is a picture of the raindrops on the grass/trees gleaming through the sun, It was great to see the sun again! expect sunny skies and warm temperatures tomorrow!

A few Strong maybe Severe storms possible the remainder of the afternoon

Image from SPC

The Storm Prediction Center has issued a very small risk of Severe Storms this afternoon, This generally means Strong storms are possible and some of these storms may briefly be severe. The highest risks for today would be deadly lightning, very heavy rain, along with the chance for very gusty winds and small hail. People out this afternoon should pay attention to the weather just in case storms move towards their location.

Showery and Cool condtions continue, Then finally warming up and clearing out Wednesday!

Regional View.





A cool showery low pressure system will bring scattered showers across most of the Upper Midwest for Monday and Tuesday, Temperatures will be chilly region wide, then Wednesday, a warmer, drier air mass will finally bring some sunnier weather and much warmer conditions.

Local View.

Locally were going to have to continue to deal with cool showery gray weather like we've been dealing with the past few days, light Showers with maybe a Thunderstorm are possible both Monday and Tuesday, Temperatures will be chilly for this time of year, Some models suggest upper 60s, but because the trend the past couple days have been low to mid 60s, I'm going to go with mid 60s Monday, and Upper 60s Tuesday for temperatures. Then Wednesday is should finally clear out over Western Wisconsin, This will bring in some Much warmer weather, and temperatures will rise back into the upper 70s, which is normal for this time of year. Daily Forecast Below.

Monday, Chilly, A chance of Showers possible a Thunderstorm, otherwise Cloudy with highs in the mid 60s. Monday Night, A chance of a shower, otherwise Cloudy with highs in the low 50s.

Tuesday, Chilly, chances of a shower or Thunderstorm, otherwise Mostly Cloudy, highs in the upper 60s. Tuesday Night, Mostly Cloudy, Lows in the low 50s.

Wednesday, Much Warmer! Cloudy at first, but then skies should clear and become partly cloudy, highs in the upper 70s. Wednesday Night, Partly Cloudy, lows in the upper 50s.

Looking ahead.

Thursday shows some Warm temperatures are possible the first part of the day before a cold front push through with the slight chance of showers or storms, This would being in dry weather for the weekend of Clayton Cheese Days, with seasonable temperatures. then by Monday the models show the weather becoming active again with a chance of Tstorms, then Dry Weather Tuesday and Wednesday, Then the models have been hinting at a warm air mass coming in for the middle of this month for quite some time, well currently it shows a warm front passing through Thursday the 24th, with the chance of thunderstorms, this could bring some Very warm temperatures for the weekend of the 26th/27th, Especially on Sunday the 27th more on this later.

Thunderstorms likely this weekend, with Heavy Rain, up to 2" Possible, Some storms could be strong- Updated

Regional Weather View.

An Active Wet Weekend ahead, Thunderstorms are likely across the Upper Midwest, with Severe Thunderstorms possible in parts of Southern Minnesota, Southwest Wisconsin and Iowa, Heavy Rain is likely farther to the North of this area, as a stationary front meanders across parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, some places could get up to 3" of rainfall, Sunday looks much drier, and nicer for the area.

Local View

I am issuing a forecast early because I will be enjoying myself tubing down the Namekagon river tomorrow afternoon, which is up in the Hayward/Trego area, and I may not have enough time to issue a forecast, which comes at an important time because of the heavy rain potential, I may updated this forecast before Friday.

Heavy Rain Threat

It now appears the heaviest rain of the weekend is passed us. Saturday we will only deal with the chance of a few lingering showers or thunderstorms, it will not nearly be as heavy as Friday mornings rain. Temperatures may end out being a bit cooler then I first thought due to the cloud cover, which has limited high temperatures today, Sunday, I still believe there is a small chance of a shower left over, but not likely, weather should prove to be somewhat brighter and much warmer, with partly sunny to partly cloudy skeis, and highs making it to the middle 70s.

Severe Weather Threat.

The severe weather threat has ended, and Severe Thunderstorms are not expected Saturday.

Friday, Thunderstorms, Heavy rain possible early, then Cloudy with storms redeveloping late. Some storms could be strong. turning humid, Highs in the mid 70s. Friday Night, a Chance of Thunderstorms, some could bring heavy rain, lows near 50.

Saturday, A chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms, otherwise cloudy, highs in the low 70s, Saturday night, Cloudy, lows near 60.F

Sunday, A chance of a shower or thunderstorm early, otherwise cloudy, some clearing skies possible late. Highs in the mid 70s, Sunday Night, Partly Cloudy, lows near 60.

Looking Ahead

I'm getting ready for quite a difficult week of forecast, as a very active pattern continues, Models already picking up on another chance of rainfall for Monday and Tuesday, but with the jet stream so close and as active as it is, it will be hard to pin point exactly what days will be rainy, but right now we got that chance of showers and thunderstorms Monday and Tuesday, temps will be a bit cool but not bad, then towards midweek and the weekend, things start to heat up temp wise, highs will be closer to Normals for this time of year in the upper 70s to low 80s, Models are also picking up on some rainfall potential Thursday and Friday just in time for Clayton Cheese Days, but these chances look light, The models do pick up on what could be more heavier rainfall Saturday the 19, Temperatures continue to look mild, Sunday June 20th the models are picking up on intense rainfall, but I believe the forecast model is over doing it, but still the chance is there, So it might end up being another wet weekend for Clayton Cheese Days. The models then show things really heating up for the middle of the month, with continued shower and thunderstorm chances.

So our very active patttern looks to continue.