3 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
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 Sep 11, 1:50 PM CST, 10 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 250 PM CDT SUN SEP 11 2005 .DISCUSSION... SYSTEM TO THE WEST FINALLY BEGINNING TO BRING SOME RAIN...ITS BEEN TAKING AWHILE...BUT BUT UPPER TROF GOING TO BE PROGRESSIVE SO WE SHOULD FINALLY SEE SOME FAIRLY WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION ACROSS THE NORTHLAND EARLY THIS WEEK. CURRENT THUDNERSTORMS OVER CASS AND CROW WIND COUNTY FORMING IN GRADIENT OF PVA AND MOISTURE CONVEREGENCE...AND THEY ARE DIMINISHING AS THEY MOVE NORTH INTO SFC RIDGE...BUT HAVE MOVED THEM NORTH INTO ITASCA COUNTY EARLY THIS EVENING...THEN THEY SHOULD END. AS FRONTAL SYSTEM AND VERY SLOWLY EWD TONIGHT...EXPECT THUNDERSTORMS TO BECOME MUCH MORE WIDESPREAD AS UPPER TROF PHASES WITH SFC SYSTEM. AS CAN BE SEE ON WV...MOISTURE IS NOT A PROBLEM. THE PROBLEM AT FIRST WILL BE THE LARGE CIN. ALSO GOOD INSENTROPIC LIFT DOES NOT DEVELOP UNTIL LATE TONIGHT. BUT WHEN IT DOES...IT WILL BE IN AREAS OF CONDENSATION PRESSURE DEFICITS OF LESS THAN 50 MB. EXPECT THE BULK OF THE PRECIPITION TO MOVE INTO NRN MN LATE TNT AFTER 06Z WHEN ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE STRENGTHENS AND NAM SHOWS ANOTHER VORT MAX MOVING NNE THROUGH THE AREA. AT THAT TIME GFS APPEARS TO HAVE SOME CONVECTIVE FEEDBACK PROBLEMS...BUT OVERALL THE MODELS IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT. BASICALLY THE SYSTEM WILL TAKE THROUGH WEDNESDAY TO CLEAR THE DLH FORECAST AREA. HAVE SLOWLY DIMINSHED RAIN FROM WEST TO EAST TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING. .DISCUSSION...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT AND MOVE ACROSS THE UPPER MIDWEST TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. MVFR-IFR CIGS AND VSBYS WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH THESE TSTORMS AS THEY CROSS THE UPPER MIDWEST...ALONG WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF STRONG AND VARIABLE WINDS...HAIL AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. HOWEVER PREVAILING CONDITIONS THROUGH THE TAF PERIOD SHOULD STAY IN THE VFR RANGE. .DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. CLC/RWB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 756 PM CDT SUN SEP 11 2005 MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009-121230- ASHLAND-BAYFIELD-BURNETT-C. ST. LOUIS-CROW WING-DOUGLAS-IRON- KOOCHICHING-N. AITKIN-N. CASS-N. ITASCA-N. LAKE/N. COOK-N. ST. LOUIS- PINE-PRICE-S. AITKIN-S. CASS-S. COOK/LAKESHORE-S. ITASCA- S. LAKE/LAKESHORE-S. ST. LOUIS/CARLTON-SAWYER-WASHBURN- 756 PM CDT SUN SEP 11 2005 ...SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT AND MONDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA AND NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT OVER MUCH OF NORTHERN MINNESOTA...WITH A LESSER CHANCE IN NORTHWEST WISCONSIN. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE IN NORTHEAST MINNESOTA...MAINLY AFTER MIDNIGHT. LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT...ALTHOUGH THERE IS ALSO A CHANCE FOR SOME STRONG WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT THE ENTIRE AREA MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. A FEW STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE ON MONDAY. THE MAIN HAZARDS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL...WITH AN ISOLATED TORNADO ALSO POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TONIGHT. MELDE
The Duluth radar (KDLH), 196 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:59 UTC.
3 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck on insulator, which shut down power substations in International Falls and Kabetogama, leaving 1,800 residents without power until 7:30 am CST.
Lightning struck the television antenna on top of a home on County Road 29 and follwed a cable line down into the ceiling of the basement where it began to smolder. Damage was isolated to the basement.
A lightning strike caused 150 large, round bales of hay to burn.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, September 2005
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: 5474675, 5474673, 5474674.