Name: Flash Flood in Minnesota, July 7 to 8, 2002
Start: 2002-07-07T20:00
End: 2002-07-08T02:00
Location: Minnesota

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $250,000
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.

High water caused $254,750 in road damage.

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 Jul 7, 1:45 PM CST, 6 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 7, 1:45 PM CST, 6 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
245 PM CDT SUN JUL 7 2002

MAIN CONCERN IS FLOODING POTENTIAL. MODELS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT ON
MAIN FORCING MECHANISMS WITH THIS COMPLEX...BUT DIFFER ON QPF.
ETA HAD BEST HANDLE ON THIS MORNINGS CONVECTION...BUT STILL NOT
RIGHT ON. WILL GO WITH ETA/AVN BLEND THIS FCST.

STRONG STORM COMPLEX JUST NW OF OUR CWA IS PRODUCING 1 TO 2 INCH
RAINFALL TOTALS THIS AFTERNOON...PER SPENES. VERY SLOW STORM MOVEMENT
AND TROPICAL AIRMASS IS ALLOWING FOR THE HIGH RAINFALL RATES.
DEWPOINTS IN THE LOWER 70S ACROSS MUCH OF THE CWA...AND A STATIONARY
BOUNDARY ALONG FAR N MN...WILL SET THE STAGE FOR EASTWARD PROGRESSION
OF THE CURRENT STORM SYSTEM. THIS INITIAL BAND...ALONG WITH THE
ADDITIONAL STORMS EXPECTED LATER TONIGHT...HAS PROMPTED AN EXTENTION
OF THE FLOOD WATCH TO INCLUDE ALL OF NE MN. THIS WILL PUT THE ENTIRE
CWA UNDER THE WATCH. THE MODEL QPFS ARE GOING WITH 1 TO 3 INCH TOTALS
IN MUCH OF MY CWA BY THE END OF THE DAY MONDAY...BUT TROPICAL TYPE
AIRMASS COULD ALLOW FOR SOME LOCALIZED 4 TO 5 INCH BANDS OF RAIN.
THE MAIN STORM COMPLEX WILL BE TRIGGERED OVERNIGHT BY THE POTENT
SHORTWAVE EXITING THE DAKOTAS. IT WILL BE ABLE TO TAP AIR WITH PW
VALUES OVER 2 INCHES. UPR DIVERGENCE IN RT ENTRANCE 90-100KT H3 JET
HAS AIDED IN PRODUCING HIGH MODEL OMEGA AND STRONG ISEN LIFT ON THE
NOSE OF AN H8 THETA E RIDGE (340K). Q-VECTOR CONVERGENCE AND A
POCKET OF STRONG LOW LEVEL WAA DEVELOP ACRS OUR S CWA TO AID IN TSTM
DVLPMENT THERE LATER TNGT. SO WITH A STATIONARY BOUNDARY IN THE N
CWA AND STRONG FORCING SOUTH...THE ENTIRE CWA SHOULD RECEIVE HIGH
RAINFALL TOTALS OVER THE NEXT 18-24 HOURS.

A BREAK IN THE ACTION EXPECTED FOR MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY AS A
SFC RIDGE DROPS S FROM CANADA. A DRIER NE FLOW WILL PROVIDE COOLER
NIGHT TEMPS WITH SOME RELIEF IN THE DAY AS WELL.

.DLH...FLOOD WATCH ENTIRE CWA TNGT AND MON.
       MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009

SHIMON

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Crow Wing

When: July 7, 8:00 PM CST to July 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Crow Wing County, 15 mi E of Brainerd
Property damage: $250,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 46.482, -94.071 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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, July 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: 5312374.