Weather alerts in Minnesota, 2019
3,157 weather alerts in 2019, from the National Weather Service and the Storm Prediction Center. An alert counts here when it covered any part of the state, so the counties below add up to more than the state.
Weather alerts by county
Each county as a circle sized by its count in 2019. Tap one for its archive.
- Alerts
- 3,157
- Warnings
- 1,197
- Watches
- 165
- Advisories
- 559
- Busiest month
- July741 alerts
- Busiest day
- June 4, 2019131 alerts
Over time
By month
Warning verification
How often warnings here had a storm report inside them, and how much warning the reports had.
22 of 87 tornado warnings covering Minnesota in 2019 had a tornado report inside them; 37 of 67 tornado reports fell inside a warning, on average 14 minutes after it went out.
Minnesota, 2019
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado warnings | 87 | 22 | 75% | 67 | 55% | 14 min |
| Severe thunderstorm warnings | 531 | 306 | 42% | 776 | 79% | 22 min |
| Flash flood warnings | 48 | 22 | 54% | 49 | 76% | 111 min |
Each office's whole area, 2019
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NWS Grand Forks, ND: tornado warnings | 27 | 13 | 52% | 33 | 79% | 12 min |
| NWS Grand Forks, ND: severe thunderstorm warnings | 223 | 180 | 19% | 428 | 85% | 25 min |
| NWS Grand Forks, ND: flash flood warnings | 13 | 6 | 54% | 12 | 100% | 154 min |
| NWS Duluth, MN: tornado warnings | 10 | 4 | 60% | 13 | 38% | 11 min |
| NWS Duluth, MN: severe thunderstorm warnings | 142 | 50 | 65% | 138 | 66% | 22 min |
| NWS Duluth, MN: flash flood warnings | 9 | 5 | 44% | 9 | 67% | 68 min |
| NWS Twin Cities, MN: tornado warnings | 57 | 11 | 81% | 38 | 50% | 10 min |
| NWS Twin Cities, MN: severe thunderstorm warnings | 206 | 102 | 50% | 383 | 74% | 21 min |
| NWS Twin Cities, MN: flash flood warnings | 19 | 9 | 53% | 19 | 74% | 71 min |
| NWS Aberdeen, SD: tornado warnings | 5 | 2 | 60% | 8 | 38% | 10 min |
| NWS Aberdeen, SD: severe thunderstorm warnings | 199 | 126 | 37% | 198 | 86% | 18 min |
| NWS Aberdeen, SD: flash flood warnings | 3 | 1 | 67% | 2 | 100% | 8 min |
| NWS Sioux Falls, SD: tornado warnings | 37 | 10 | 73% | 26 | 50% | 7 min |
| NWS Sioux Falls, SD: severe thunderstorm warnings | 172 | 107 | 38% | 251 | 88% | 18 min |
| NWS Sioux Falls, SD: flash flood warnings | 32 | 19 | 41% | 26 | 81% | 73 min |
| NWS La Crosse, WI: tornado warnings | 24 | 5 | 79% | 27 | 48% | 15 min |
| NWS La Crosse, WI: severe thunderstorm warnings | 122 | 72 | 41% | 209 | 83% | 23 min |
| NWS La Crosse, WI: flash flood warnings | 30 | 17 | 43% | 54 | 81% | 117 min |
An office's figures cover every county it serves, including across state lines.
Verified by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow, which matches each storm-based warning with the local storm reports inside its polygon while it was in force, within 15 km of its edge: a tornado warning counts as verified on a tornado report, a severe thunderstorm warning on hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more, or wind damage, a flash flood warning on a flash flood report. The false alarm ratio is the share of warnings with no such report; "inside a warning" is the probability of detection, the share of reports that fell inside one; lead time runs from the warning's issue to each report inside it, counting zero for a report that came first. A warning with no report is not proof nothing happened: reports come from spotters, the public and damage surveys, and are thin where few people live.
The alerts
3,157 alerts are too many to list on one page. Narrow it to a product above, to a month in the chart, or to a county.
By product
Every kind of product issued here, grouped by hazard. Each opens the same place narrowed to that product.
By county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Saint Louis County247
- Polk County197
- Carlton County197
- Clay County189
- Olmsted County185
- Marshall County172
- Brown County168
- Wabasha County168
- Dodge County167
- Mower County167
- Norman County165
- Fillmore County165
- Cass County164
- Blue Earth County164
- Goodhue County164
- Steele County163
- Aitkin County162
- Winona County162
- Waseca County161
- Dakota County159
- Koochiching County158
- Rice County157
- Lake County153
- Crow Wing County152
- Pipestone County152
- Freeborn County150
- Hennepin County150
- Otter Tail County149
- Scott County149
- Le Sueur County148
- Becker County147
- Redwood County146
- Faribault County146
- Rock County144
- Houston County144
- Washington County144
- Wilkin County143
- Itasca County143
- Pine County143
- Carver County143
47 more counties
- Cottonwood County142
- Jackson County141
- Martin County141
- Ramsey County141
- Renville County140
- Watonwan County139
- Beltrami County137
- Nobles County137
- Pennington County134
- Yellow Medicine County134
- Murray County134
- Kittson County132
- Anoka County132
- Nicollet County130
- Sibley County130
- Roseau County127
- Traverse County127
- Lyon County127
- Mahnomen County124
- Red Lake County124
- Lac qui Parle County124
- Morrison County122
- Big Stone County122
- Clearwater County121
- McLeod County121
- Hubbard County120
- Wright County120
- Cook County119
- Chippewa County119
- Chisago County118
- Kandiyohi County117
- Lincoln County114
- Lake of the Woods County113
- Wadena County110
- Douglas County110
- Mille Lacs County110
- Stearns County109
- Stevens County107
- Isanti County107
- Sherburne County107
- Swift County106
- Todd County105
- Kanabec County105
- Pope County104
- Meeker County104
- Grant County103
- Benton County102
The busiest days
Days with the most alerts issued, by UTC date.
Nearby
Alerts in force nowTornadoes on recordThe radar archive20182020
Sources
National Weather Service watches, warnings, advisories and statements from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's VTEC archive, which reconstructs tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings back to 1986 from the NWS text archive. Storm Prediction Center watches and mesoscale discussions from SPC's archive through the Mesonet. County centers from the US Census Bureau. Warning verification from the Mesonet's Cow. Rebuilt daily.