Name: Funnel Clouds in Minnesota, August 5, 2002
Start: 2002-08-05T15:45
End: 2002-08-05T15:50
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 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 Twin Cities, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 5, 1:43 PM CST, 2 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 5, 1:43 PM CST, 2 hours 2 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
243 PM CDT MON AUG 5 2002

KEY TO FORECAST IS THE TROPICAL PLUME BEST SEEN ON THE WATER VAPOR
IMAGERY. REMNANTS FROM THE PLUME THAT BROUGHT HEAVY RAIN TO FAR
SOUTHERN MINNESOTA EARLY THIS MORNING HAS BROKEN AWAY FROM THE LARGE
PLUME MOVING UP FROM OLD MEXICO. THESE REMNANTS NOW APPEAR TO BE
PIVOTING OVER IOWA WITH ANOTHER SURGE NOW COMING BACK AROUND THROUGH
EASTERN NEBRASKA. THE MESO ETA MODEL HINTS THAT THIS WILL MOVE BACK
INTO SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY MORNING.
THIS PLUME IS THEN FORECAST SHIFT EAST TOWARD WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN
TUESDAY AFTERNOON AS AN UPPER RIDGE BUILDS INTO THE NORTH CENTRAL
PLAINS STATES...JUST WEST OF OUR COUNTY WARNING AREA. LOWER LEVELS
OVER THE AREA ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN UNDER CUT BY FAIRLY STRONG
SOUTHEAST FLOW OUT OF THE SURFACE HIGH PASSING OVER THE NORTHERN
GREAT LAKES. SUSPECT THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF SHOWERS WITH THE
MOISTURE PLUME TUESDAY AND TUESDAY EVENING EVEN THOUGH LOWER LEVEL
WIND FIELDS DO NOT LOOK FAVORABLE. LATE TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY
THE MOISTURE PLUME IS EXPECTED TO SWING UP AND AROUND OUR COUNTY
WARNING AREA TO OUR WEST AND NORTH. A SHORT WAVE AND SURGE OF MIDDLE
LEVEL WARM ADVECTION IS FORECAST BY THE MODELS ACROSS PORTIONS OF
CENTRAL MINNESOTA WEDNESDAY. A CHANCE OF CONVECTION SEEMS REASONABLE
WEDNESDAY ALONG THE NORTHERN EDGE OF A CAPPED ENVIRONMENT THROUGH
THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF OUR MINNESOTA COUNTY WARNING AREA.

.MSP...NONE.
 WH

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 134 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:43 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.

Funnel Cloud, Faribault

When: August 5, 3:45 PM CST
Where: Faribault County, 2 mi NE of Elmore
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.674, -93.948 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Funnel Cloud, Faribault

When: August 5, 3:50 PM CST
Where: Faribault County, 2 mi NW of Elmore
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.674, -93.948 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Funnel Cloud: A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.

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, August 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: 5313935, 5313936.