Minnesota, 2003

Tornadoes and Flash Flood in Minnesota, June 6, 2003

June 6, 2003 · NWS FGF · 10 events in 6 counties and zones

7 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
10

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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 6, 9:28 AM CST, 3 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 6, 9:28 AM CST, 3 hours 2 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
1028 AM CDT FRI JUN 6 2003

.CURRENT OBSERVATIONS...
A COUPLE OF UPPER LEVEL WAVES ARE SHOWING UP NICELY ON VISIBLE
SATELLITE AND ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY. A GOOD AREA OF CONVERGENCE IS
CURRENTLY GOING ON ACROSS CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. A DECENT SHORT WAVE
HAS BROKEN OFF FROM THE PARENT LOW AND IS PUSHING INTO THE
CONVERGENT AREA AROUND BISMARCK. TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE AREA HAVE
WARMED NICELY OVER THE NORTHERN VALLEY WITH SOME SCATTERED
CONVECTION LOCATED OVER EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA.

.THIS AFTERNOON...
EXPECT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO CONTINUE TO FIRE THIS AFTERNOON
WITH CONVECTIVE TEMPERATURES REMAINING RELATIVELY LOW. SHEAR REMAINS
WEAK TODAY HOWEVER SYNOPTIC SCALE FORCING IS BETTER THAN YESTERDAY.
ONE LIMITING FACTOR MAY BE CLOUD COVER. INVERTED TROUGH BEGINNING TO
DEVELOP RIGHT OVER THE RED RIVER VALLEY THIS MORNING AND COMBINED
WITH LEFT OVER OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES AND CONVERGENT ZONE...PLENTY OF
FORCING LOOKS TO BE IN PLACE.  WITH FREEZING LEVELS SIMILAR TO
YESTERDAY...A FEW MARGINALLY SEVERE STORMS ARE POSSIBLE. WILL
MONITOR TEMPERATURES WITH A FEW ADJUSTMENTS LIKELY DUE TO CLOUD
COVER TRENDS.

.FGF...NONE.

DONAVON
Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 6, 6:05 AM CST, 6 hours 25 minutes before
MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-061400-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
705 AM CDT FRI JUN 6 2003

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS PARTS OF NORTHWEST AND
WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA FOR TODAY...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST
CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING

ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING EAST OF A LINE FROM ROSEAU TO FERGUS FALLS MINNESOTA.
THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE MAINLY LARGE HAIL. THE SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AFTER THE NOON HOUR AND SHOULD DISSIPATE
AROUND 8 PM.

AFTERNOON HEATING AND RELATIVELY COLD AIR ALOFT WILL PRODUCE
UNSTABLE CONDITIONS AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON. LOW PRESSURE OVER NORTHWEST
MINNESOTA WILL MOVE INTO EASTERN MINNESOTA BY THIS EVENING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

HOPPES

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 6, 9:27 AM CST, 3 hours 3 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
1027 AM CDT FRI JUN 6 2003

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

0325 PM    ERHARD                    MN   .75 INCH HAIL
06/05/03   OTTER TAIL

TG

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 167 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:32 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

7 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Roseau

When
June 6, 12:30 PM CST
Where
Roseau County, 4 mi SW of Wannaska
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
48.633, -95.800

Hail, Clay

When
June 6, 3:08 PM CST
Where
Clay County, 3 mi S of Georgetown
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
47.033, -96.817

Hail, Polk

When
June 6, 3:28 PM CST
Where
Polk County, 6 mi NNE of Mc Intosh
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
47.717, -95.850

Hail, Clay

When
June 6, 3:29 PM CST
Where
Clay County, Moorhead
Measured
0.88 in hail
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
46.883, -96.750

Tornado, Becker

When
June 6, 3:37 PM CST to 3:41 PM CST
Where
Becker County, 7 mi WSW of Ogema
Rating
F0
Path length
0.5 mi
Path width
25 yd
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
47.067, -96.083

A tornado briefly touched down in an open field.

Hail, Clay

When
June 6, 3:45 PM CST
Where
Clay County, Moorhead
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.883, -96.750

The hail occurred over downtown Moorhead.

Tornado, Becker

When
June 6, 3:56 PM CST to 3:59 PM CST
Where
Becker County, 5 mi W of Ogema
Rating
F0
Path length
0.2 mi
Path width
25 yd
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
47.100, -96.050

A brief touchdown was reported.

Hail, Red Lake

When
June 6, 4:25 PM CST
Where
Red Lake County, 4 mi W of Red Lake Falls
Measured
0.88 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
47.883, -96.350

Hail, Norman

When
June 6, 4:40 PM CST
Where
Norman County, Twin Vly
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
47.267, -96.267

Flash Flood, Clay

When
June 6, 4:45 PM CST to 5:15 PM CST
Where
Clay County, Moorhead
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
46.892, -96.491 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Slow moving thunderstorms dropped 2 to 4 inches of rain in 10 minutes. The water rose as high as car tires on 30th Avenue South.

What these are

Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
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 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Minnesota, 2003Warnings in Minnesota, June 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: 5365892, 5365893, 5365894, 5365895, 5365896, 5365897, 5365959, 5365960, 5365961, 5365962.