Alert archive / Minnesota / Red Flag Warnings in 2026

Red Flag Warning 9, NWS Duluth, MN

May 16, 20266 counties in Minnesota

NWS Duluth, MN issued this red flag warning at May 16, 2026, 9:54 AM CDT for 6 counties in Minnesota. It took effect at May 16, 2026, 10:00 AM CDT. It was in force for 11 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 2026, 9:54 AM CDT (14:54 UTC)
In effect from: May 16, 2026, 10:00 AM CDT
Expired: May 16, 2026, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 11 hr
Issued by: NWS Duluth, MN

Counties Aitkin County, MN, Carlton County, MN, Cass County, MN, Crow Wing County, MN, Pine County, MN, Saint Louis County, MN

The radar

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:54 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 2.9 hours before the alert went out and 210 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 2519 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 68 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 32 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this red flag warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before this red flag warning went out at May 15, 6:17 PM CDT, 15 hours 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 15, 6:17 PM CDT, 15 hours 37 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, May 15, 3:01 PM CDT, 18 hours 53 minutes before

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      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
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        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
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The office that day

Everything else NWS Duluth, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 8:33 AM CDT	Small Craft Advisory	DLH		10 hr
May 16, 1:25 PM CDT	Frost Advisory	DLH	Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, Saint Louis	19 hr

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in Minnesota, 2026 Every red flag warning in 2026

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.