Name: Damaging Wind in Minnesota, April 16, 2002
Start: 2002-04-16T22:30
End: 2002-04-16T22:30
Location: Minnesota

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS DLH wrote it up.

One foot diameter tree was blown down and garage door was blown in.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Apr 16, 3:00 PM CST, 7 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 16, 3:00 PM CST, 7 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
400 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2002

FORECAST PROBLEMS INCLUDE SEVERE WEATHER THIS EVENING AND STORM
TRACK ON THURSDAY.

.THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT...THINGS ARE A LITTLE OUT OF PHASE.  WITH
THE SUN UP...STABILITIES ARE LOW...MOISTURE HIGH...HELICITY QUITE
HIGH...BUT OVERRUNNING CLOUDS ARE FORMING ALONG A STATIONARY LINE
AT THE CREST OF BUFFALO RIDGE.  THIS LINE IS NOT RETREATING AND THE
CAP REMAINS STRONG. WHEN THE FORCING FROM THE FRONT COMES...ABOUT
06Z...THE SUN WILL BE DOWN AND STABILITIES WILL INCREASE ABOUT 8C.
RAPID COOLING ALOFT NEAR AND BEHIND THE FRONT WILL CAUSE MOMENTUM
MIXING AND GUSTY SURFACE WINDS LATE TONIGHT.

.WEDNESDAY...AS THE LOW MOVES NORTH...A GRADUALLY WEAKENING WEST
GRADIENT WILL SLOWLY WEAKEN AS DRY AIR POURS IN.  TEMPERATURES WILL
BE WARMER BY THE LAKE.

.WEDNESDAY NIGHT...OVERRUNNING FROM THE NEXT SYSTEM WILL BE WORKING
EAST...WITH RAIN SPREADING EAST AFTER MIDNIGHT.  THE LATE CLOUD-UP
WILL PERMIT PLENTY OF RADIATIONAL COOLING.

.THURSDAY...THE ETA AND AVN VASTLY DISAGREE ON STORM TRACK.  THE ETA
RESULT...WITH THE GULF OPEN...WOULD GIVE US CHILLY TEMPERATURES AND A
HEAVY RAIN EVENT. THE FURTHER NORTH AVN WOULD DRY-SLOT US...AFTER A
SHORT PERIOD OF OVERRUNNING...AND PUT US AT RISK FOR SEVERE WEATHER
AFTER AN EARLY WARM-UP. AFTER THE FRONT PASSES...A TIGHT GRADIENT
WOULD AGAIN GIVE US STIFF WINDS ON THE AVN...BUT A LESS STIFF
BACKING WIND ON THE ETA.  SINCE THE TIME IS A BIT FAR OUT...WE WENT
CLOSER TO THE AVN...SINCE IT IS A HEMISPHERIC WAVE MODEL.

.DLH...NONE.

EOM

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Itasca

When: April 16, 10:30 PM CST
Where: Itasca County, Warba
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 47.133, -93.267

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Minnesota in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Minnesota, April 2002

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5295945.