Name: High Wind in Minnesota, April 24, 2002
Start: 2002-04-24T00:26
End: 2002-04-24T00:56
Location: Minnesota

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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: 2

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 FGF wrote it up.

Both the Fergus Falls airport and a MNDOT RWIS site near Tenney measured 60 mph wind gusts.

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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 23, 7:50 PM CST, 4 hours 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 23, 7:50 PM CST, 4 hours 36 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
850 PM CDT TUE APR 23 2002

FORECAST CHALLENGES MANY HOWEVER MAIN CONCERN IS ONGOING WINTER
STORM HEADLINES.

CONVECTION WITH ISOLD SVR CONTINUES TO FIRE AHEAD OF STRONG COLD
FRONT/SFC LOW ORIENTED FROM NORTHERN RED RIVER VALLEY TO EAST OF
JMS. FARTHER WEST BAND OF -RA WORKING ACROSS CENTRAL ND. INITIAL
WAVE FROM WATER VAPOR LIFTING NORTHEAST WITH SECONDARY SHORT WAVE
PUSHING INTO NW ND.

CONCERN IS WHAT TO DO WITH WATCH WHICH IS IN EFFECT FOR
TONIGHT...18Z MESO ETA...18Z AVN AND LATEST RUC ARE ALL FOCUSING
MAIN PRECIPITATION EVENT ALONG 850MB BAROCLINIC ZONE ALONG AND AHEAD
OF COLD FRONT LIFTING NORTHEAST OVERNIGHT. AT THIS POINT IN TIME IT
SEEMS TO BE THE CASE WITH WHAT IS GOING ON HERE AND UPSTREAM. ALL OF
THESE MODELS SO FAR DOING A GOOD JOB AS 850MB ZERO LINE JUST
ENTERING THE NW CORNER OF ND FROM RUC ANALYSIS. BASED ON POSIT OF
850MB TEMPS AND CRITICAL THICKNESS MAIN PCPN SHIELD EXITS FA BEFORE
VALUES DROP ENOUGH FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL. BEST AREA FOR ANY
ACCUMULATIONS LOOKS TO BE OVER FAR NORTHEAST COUNTIES WHERE AN INCH
OR TWO MAY BE POSSIBLE. ELSEWHERE WITH SFC TEMPERATURES STILL ABOVE
FREEZING INTO SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN FEEL SNOWFALL WILL NOT BE
INTENSE ENOUGH FOR SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS. AS A RESULT BASED ON
AVAILABLE INFO HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO DROP WATCH. WILL HOWEVER NEED
TO ISSUE WIND ADVISORY FOR LATE TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY BASED ON
ADIABATIC LAYER AND EVOLVING UNIDIRECTIONAL FLOW WITH 30 TO 40KTS
FROM MESO-ETA SOUNDING AND STRONG COLD ADVECTION/ISENTROPIC DESCENT.

.FGF...WINTER STORM WATCH CANCELLED. WIND ADVISORY ENTIRE FORECAST
AREA LATE TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY.

VOELKER

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 23, 7:38 PM CST, 4 hours 48 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
838 PM CDT TUE APR 23 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0805 PM    6 N CROOKSTON             MN   .75 INCH HAIL
04/23/02   POLK

0824 PM    DOROTHY                   MN   1.00 INCH HAIL
04/23/02   RED LAKE

BRAMER

Local storm report, Apr 23, 9:06 PM CST, 3 hours 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
1006 PM CDT TUE APR 23 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1001 PM    NEWFOLDEN                 MN   .75 INCH HAIL
04/23/02   MARSHALL

BRAMER

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Wilkin

When: April 24, 12:26 AM CST to 12:56 AM CST
Where: Wilkin forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 46.357, -96.468 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, West Otter Tail

When: April 24, 12:26 AM CST to 12:56 AM CST
Where: West Otter Tail forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 46.409, -95.708 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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: 5285581, 5285582.