Flash Flooding in Minnesota, June 9 to 10, 2006

Name: Flash Flooding in Minnesota, June 9 to 10, 2006
Start: 2006-06-09T23:30
End: 2006-06-10T03:00
Location: Minnesota

June 9 to 10, 2006 · NWS MPX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

2 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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: $500,000
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 Jun 9, 2:45 PM CST, 8 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 9, 2:45 PM CST, 8 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
345 PM CDT FRI JUN 9 2006

.DISCUSSION...TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY
SEVERAL BANDS OF NW/SE ORIENTED PRECIP HAVE BEEN SWEEPING ACROSS CWA
TODAY. THESE SEEM TO CORRELATE WELL WITH MID LEVEL FULL WIND
FRONTOGENESIS. GFS AND NAM ARE IN DECENT AGREEMENT...AND SHOW BEST
FRONTOGENESIS MOVING OFF TO THE NORTHEAST THIS EVENING. AM A BIT
CONCERNED THAT THE STRONGEST OF THIS FORCING WILL REMAIN ACROSS THE
NORTHEASTERN PORTION OF THE CWA...AND RADAR SHOWS LARGE AREA NE OF
AXN/RGK LINE. HOWEVER... MODELS DO SHOW WEAKER BANDS STILL TO MOVE
ACROSS THE CWA. STRONG THERMAL ADVECTION AND INCREASING MOISTURE...
SO SUSPECT THAT WEAKER PRECIP WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP...ALA WEAK
AND SPOTTY ECHOES ATTM FROM GHW/ILL TO SC MN. WILL STILL HAVE
LIKELY POPS ACROSS THE NORTHEASTERN 2/3 OF CWA.

MEANWHILE...EXCELLENT SITUATION FOR MCS TO DEVELOP AND MOVE INTO
NORTHERN IOWA...AND HEAVIEST RAIN SHOULD BE THERE. SFC LOW BETWEEN
FSD AND YKN WITH WARM FRONT EXTENDING SEWD INTO IOWA. ELEVATED
INSTABILITY BEST SEEN IN THE 800/750 LAYER GENERALLY SOUTH OF
AQP/MSP...MOSTLY THIS EVENING. MAY SEE AN INCH OF RAIN FROM FRM TO
AEL THOUGH.

COOL TEMPS AND DRY AIR WILL MOVE IN SATURDAY MORNING. THERE IS SOME
CHANCE THAT THICK MID CLOUDS WILL ERODE IN THE RPD/RCX AREA BY
SUNRISE...IN WHICH CASE MIN TEMPS WOULD NEED TO BE LOWERED A BIT.
COOL DRY AIR WILL HAVE A TOUGH TIME MAKING IT TOO FAR SOUTHWEST OVER
THE WEEKEND...AS NAM AND GFS BOTH SHOW CANADIAN HIGH MAINLY MOVING
ESE...WITH WEAK LOBES BREAKING OFF FROM PACIFIC LOW AND ALSO HEADING
ESE TOWARD SWRN MN.

BOTH NAM AND GFS SUGGEST STRONGER SHORT WAVE HEADING FOR UPPER
MIDWEST ON MONDAY. HOWEVER...MODELS SEEM TO BE HAVING A TOUGH TIME
DEALING WITH STRENGTH OF UPPER RIDGE ACROSS MIDSECTION OF
COUNTRY...WITH SIGNIFICANT VARIATION FROM 00Z TO 06Z AND THEN AGAIN
AT 12Z. THUS WILL HOLD OFF ON MENTIONING PRECIP MONDAY... BUT IT IS
SOMETHING TO WATCH.

LONGER TERM...MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY
00Z AND 12Z GFS RUNS WERE PRETTY SIMILAR FOR THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI
VALLEY NEXT WEEK WITH THE MAIN THEME BEING A BUILDING UPPER LEVEL
RIDGE TO OUR WEST. KEPT THE GRIDS DRY UNTIL LATE THURSDAY WHEN
RIPPLES OF ENERGY START FLATTENING THE RIDGE. SPREAD SOME LOW CHANCE
POPS INTO THE WESTERN CWA THURSDAY NIGHT AND ACROSS THE CWA ON
FRIDAY. HIGH TEMPERATURES BEGIN THE PERIOD NEAR CLIMATOLOGY AND THEN
ARE EXPECTED TO BE A FEW DEGREES ABOVE BY LATE IN THE WEEK. MAIN
CONCERN NEXT WEEK IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT FORECAST HIGHS ARE TOO LOW
GIVEN PROJECTED GFS 850 MB TEMPERATURES. HOWEVER...HIGHS IN THE
GRIDS ARE IN LINE WITH NEW HPC HIGH TEMPERATURES.

&&

.MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MN...NONE.
WI...NONE.

&&

TDK/RAH

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 9, 11:00 PM CST, 30 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
1200 AM CDT SAT JUN 10 2006

MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028-
110500-
DOUGLAS-TODD-MORRISON-MILLE LACS-KANABEC-STEVENS-POPE-STEARNS-
BENTON-SHERBURNE-ISANTI-CHISAGO-LAC QUI PARLE-SWIFT-CHIPPEWA-
KANDIYOHI-MEEKER-WRIGHT-HENNEPIN-ANOKA-RAMSEY-WASHINGTON-
YELLOW MEDICINE-RENVILLE-MCLEOD-SIBLEY-CARVER-SCOTT-DAKOTA-
REDWOOD-BROWN-NICOLLET-LE SUEUR-RICE-GOODHUE-WATONWAN-BLUE EARTH-
WASECA-STEELE-MARTIN-FARIBAULT-FREEBORN-POLK-BARRON-RUSK-
ST. CROIX-PIERCE-DUNN-PEPIN-EAU CLAIRE-
1200 AM CDT SAT JUN 10 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND
SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA...AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT
THUNDERSTORMS..CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL...ARE EXPECTED
UNTIL SUNRISE ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA. PONDING OF WATER IN
LOW AREAS COULD BE A PROBLEM. THE AREA EXPECTED TO RECEIVE THE
THUNDERSTORMS IS SOUTH OF A LINE FROM THE SOUTHERN SUBURBS OF THE
TWIN CITIES TO LAMBERTON.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.

RJN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:30 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Steele

When: June 9, 11:30 PM CST to June 10, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Steele County, Owatonna
Property damage: $500,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 44.022, -93.226 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Rainfall was reported to vary from 4.4 to 6.3 inches over a narrow area of Steele County. Significant localized flooding occurred, most of which was contained in the industrial park on the western edge of Owatonna. Several of the local factories had flooding in their parking lots. Railroad tracks washed out on North Street. The Microtel hotel, located in this area, had approximately 35 cars submerged in 3 to 4 feet of water. One hundred and eighty people were evacuated from 63 rooms of the hotel by Emergency Services. Some guests of the hotel reported they had water up to their knees in the lower level rooms. Owatonna fire chief Mike Johnson mentioned that 15 homes, mostly in the southeast section of Owatonna had flooding in their basements. Some of these residents reported water up to five feet deep. The over one half million dollar damage estimate included the damage at the hotel plus the flooded vehicles. Information provided by county officials. A large area of mud washed over Highway 14. Interstate 35 was closed at Owatonna. The Red Cross opened an emergency shelter at the Owatonna High School. Some information provided by Faribault Daily News newspaper.

Flash Flood, Blue Earth

When: June 9, 11:40 PM CST to June 10, 1:40 AM CST
Where: Blue Earth County, 1 mi S of Mankato
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 44.035, -94.067 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Mud slide reported on the southern edge of town after several inches of rain had fallen.

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

Every storm in Minnesota in 2006 Every state in 2006 This day in weather history Warnings in Minnesota, June 2006

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: 5515938, 5515939.