Hail in Minnesota, July 19, 2003

Name: Hail in Minnesota, July 19, 2003
Start: 2003-07-19T16:00
End: 2003-07-19T16:00
Location: Minnesota

July 19, 2003 · NWS DLH · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The hail, in addition to high winds, damaged fifty vehicles and blew out screens and windows at Kawishi Lodge on Lake One. A lodge employee was injured when a hailstone struck his head.

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: 1
Property damage: $100,000
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.

The hail, in addition to high winds, damaged fifty vehicles and blew out screens and windows at Kawishi Lodge on Lake One. A lodge employee was injured when a hailstone struck his head. At the Lake One entry point to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness hail and downed trees damaged vehicles.

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 19, 2:00 PM CST, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 19, 2:00 PM CST, 2 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
300 PM CDT SAT JUL 19 2003

MAIN FORECAST CONCERNS DEAL WITH CHANCE FOR TSTORMS TONIGHT TROUGH
SUNDAY NIGHT...AND POSSIBLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON INTO
TONIGHT.

LATEST SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWING BROAD AREA OF WEAK LOW PRESSURE OVER
THE RED RIVER VALLEY REGION. THIS LOW IS ASSOCIATED WITH A WEAK COLD
FRONT AND UPPER LEVEL WAVE THAT HAVE NOW PUSHED INTO NWRN MN.
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY...SOME ALREADY SEVERE...HAVE DEVELOPED ACROSS
MUCH NERN MN/NWRN AND SHOULD CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST/SOUTHEAST THIS
AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

EXPECT THUNDERSTORMS TO CONTINUE TO INCREASE IN AREAL COVERAGE AS
ATM FURTHER DESTABILIZES LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING...AND
FRONT PROGRESSES EASTWARD. HOWEVER AS CURRENT RADAR TRENDS
INDICATE...CONVECTION SHOULD STAY SCATTERED THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING
WITH NO STRONG ORGANIZED FORCING MECHANISM.

BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON...DAYTIME HEATING COMBINED WITH A 500 MB TROUGH
DIGGING OUT OF CANADA WILL COMBINE TO PRODUCE ANOTHER ROUND OF
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WITH WEAK COLD FRONT TO THE SOUTH OF OUR
CWA ON SUNDAY...EXPECT SEVERE STORMS TO STAY SOUTH OF OUR AREA.
HOWEVER DUE TO STRENGTH OF UPPER TROUGH...WILL GO WITH WIDE SPREAD
SHOWERS AND EMBEDDED SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. ACTIVITY WILL WILL
DISSIPATE FROM WEST TO EAST AS 500 MB TROUGH/VORTMAX AXIS MOVES EAST
ACROSS...AND SHIFTS EAST OF THE CWA.

CONDITIONS SHOULD BE DRY ON MONDAY MORNING...AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS
SOUTH OUT OF CANADA. HOWEVER WITH COOL NW FLOW ALOFT...DAYTIME
HEATING MAY DESTABILIZE ATM ENOUGH BY MON AFTERNOON TO PRODUCE
SCATTERED SHOWERS. SO WILL ADD CHANCE POPS IN FOR THE 4TH
PERIOD...DECREASING THEM TO SLIGHT CHANCE FOR MONDAY EVENING AS
DAYTIME HEATING COMES TO AN END AND ATM STABILIZES.

.DLH...NONE.

BERDES

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 19, 6:01 AM CST, 9 hours 59 minutes before

MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009-201230-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
701 AM CDT SAT JUL 19 2003

...SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA AND
NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

A COLD FRONT APPROACHING FROM THE WEST WILL COMBINE WITH AN
APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE TO CREATE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY
AND TONIGHT. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BE SEVERE FROM THIS AFTERNOON
INTO TONIGHT PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND. NORTHEAST
MINNESOTA...INCLUDING INTERNATIONAL FALLS...BRAINERD...GRAND
RAPIDS...GRAND MARAIS AND DULUTH WILL HAVE A CHANCE FOR SEVERE STORMS
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE
INTO TONIGHT...INCLUDING NORTHWEST WISCONSIN.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY
THERE IS A CONTINUED CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY AND SUNDAY
EVENING...BUT THEY ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE AT THIS TIME. A
CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS ALSO EXISTS NEXT FRIDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS PARTS
OF NORTHEAST MINNESOTA...AND IN ALL AREAS THIS EVENING INTO TONIGHT.

&&

MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING URL:

HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DLH

MELDE

The radar

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 135 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:58 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Lake

When: July 19, 4:00 PM CST
Where: Lake County, 20 mi N of Isabella
Measured: 2.5 in hail
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 47.900, -91.350

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Minnesota in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Minnesota, July 2003

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: 5379123.