Winter Storm, Northern Cass
- When
- April 25, 1:00 PM CST to April 26, 7:00 PM CST
- Where
- Northern Cass forecast zone
- Reported by
- Trained Spotter
- Coordinates
- 46.950, -94.325 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Winter Storm in Minnesota, April 25 to 26, 2008
The last in a series of late winter storms struck northeastern Minnesota, spreading heavy snow from Brainerd through Voyageurs National Park. Specific amounts include 15 inches near Squaw Lake, Pequot Lakes and Wirt had 11 inches, while International Falls, Ranier and Leader all had around 10 inches of snowfall.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 7 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 7
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 last in a series of late winter storms struck northeastern Minnesota, spreading heavy snow from Brainerd through Voyageurs National Park. Specific amounts include 15 inches near Squaw Lake, Pequot Lakes and Wirt had 11 inches, while International Falls, Ranier and Leader all had around 10 inches of snowfall.
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 Apr 25, 11:55 AM CST, 1 hour 5 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 25, 11:55 AM CST, 1 hour 5 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...MESOSCALE UPDATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 1255 PM CDT FRI APR 25 2008 .MESOSCALE UPDATE...CONCERNING ONSET OF HEAVY SNOW IN CENTRAL/NORTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA... MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOWFALL RATES ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER NORTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA DURING THE MID TO LATE AFTERNOON HOURS..IN LOCATIONS FROM BACKUS AND REMER..NORTHWARD TO BIGFORK..ORR..CRANE LAKE..AND EVENTUALLY INTERNATIONAL FALLS. LATEST SATELLITE AND RADAR DATA INDICATES INTENSE AND AMPLIFYING SYSTEM EJECTING TOWARD NORTHEAST MINNESOTA..WITH STRONG DRY PUNCH EVIDENT IN WV SATELLITE IMAGERY NOW PUSHING RAPIDLY NEWD INTO NW WISCONSIN. ON THE WESTERN EDGE OF THE DRY SLOT..LARGE PRECIPITATION FIELD NOW EXTENDS FROM ERN SD NEWD INTO NW WI..AND CONTINUES TO ROTATE NWWD WITH TIME AS LARGER SCALE DEFORMATION ZONE CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN FROM SW INTO NCENT MN FOR THE REST OF THIS AFTERNOON. THIS AREA WILL CONTINUE TO EXPERIENCE INTENSE SYNOPTIC AND MESOSCALE FORCING FOR ASCENT WELL INTO THIS EVENING AS STRONG Q-G FORCING IS ENHANCED BY DEEP LAYER FRONTOGENSIS ACTING ON EPV VALUES TO -0.4 FEEDING INTO THE DEEP LAYER FGEN CIRCULATION. WESTERN PREIPHERY OF LARGE PRECIP SHIELD HAS NOW TRANSLATED FAR ENOUGH WEST TO BEGIN INTERACTING WITH A DEEP COLUMN COLD ENOUGH TO SUPPORT FROZEN PRECIPITATION. LATEST TAMDAR SOUNDINGS FROM THE INL AREA SEEM TO SUGGEST THAT THE COLUMN WILL BE COLD ENOUGH FOR PRECIPITATION TO BEGIN AS ALL SNOW OVER NCENT MN..WITH A CHANGE OVER FROM COLD RAIN TO SNOW WITHIN ABOUT 3 HOURS AFTER ONSET OF PRECIP IN AREAS THAT INITIALLY EXPERIENCE RAIN AS STRONG DIABATIC COOLING OCCURS AFTER HEAVIER PRECIPITATION RATES BEGIN. LATEST THINKING IS THAT SNOWFALL RATES AROUND 1 INCH PER HOUR ARE LIKELY BY MID TO LATE AFTERNOON ACROSS PARTS OF CENTRAL AND MUCH OF NORTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA...ROUGHLY 40 MILES EITHER SIDE OF A LINE ROUGHLY FROM PEQUOT LAKES...TO BIGFORK... TO INTERNATIONAL FALLS. PRESENCE OF CONSIDERABLE INSTABILITY ALSO MEANS THAT THUNDERSNOW..WITH LOCAL SNOWFALL RATES IN EXCESS ON 2 IN/HR FOR SHORT PERIODS OF TIME ARE NOT UNREASONABLE. MILLER
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 25, 6:11 AM CST, 6 hours 49 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 711 AM CDT FRI APR 25 2008 MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009-261215- KOOCHICHING-NORTHERN ST. LOUIS-NORTHERN COOK/NORTHERN LAKE- NORTHERN ITASCA-CENTRAL ST. LOUIS-SOUTHERN LAKE/LAKESHORE- SOUTHERN COOK/LAKESHORE-NORTHERN CASS-SOUTHERN ITASCA- SOUTHERN CASS-CROW WING-NORTHERN AITKIN-SOUTHERN AITKIN- CARLTON/SOUTHERN ST. LOUIS-PINE-DOUGLAS-BAYFIELD-ASHLAND-IRON- BURNETT-WASHBURN-SAWYER-PRICE- 711 AM CDT FRI APR 25 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MINNESOTA AND NORTHWEST WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ALONG THE NORTH SHORE OF MINNESOTA...THE TWIN PORTS AREA...AND THROUGH THE UPPER SAINT CROIX VALLEY...AS WELL AS ACROSS ALL OF NORTHWEST WISCONSIN TODAY AND TONIGHT. A FEW OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE SOUTH OF THE GOGEBIC RANGE...ACROSS PRICE COUNTY. THE THREAT FROM THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS INCLUDE LARGE HAIL...STRONG DAMAGING WINDS AND A POSSIBILITY OF A TORNADO. RECENT RAINS HAVE RESULTED IN POTENTIAL RIVER FLOODING THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON. SEE HYDROLOGY PRODUCTS FOR FURTHER DETAILS. HEAVY SNOW WILL MOVE NORTHWARD ACROSS MUCH OF NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA TODAY AND CONTINUE TONIGHT. SNOW OF 10 TO 15 INCHES WILL FALL FROM THE BRAINERD AND CASS LAKES AREA NORTHWARD THROUGH THE RAINY RIVER VALLEY AND EASTWARD THROUGH THE IRON RANGE AND THE CRANE LAKE AREA BY SATURDAY MORNING. SNOW WILL ACCUMULATE TO 4 TO 7 INCHES ACROSS AITKIN COUNTY BY SATURDAY MORNING. LESSER AMOUNTS OF ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL AFFECT THE REST OF NORTHEAST MINNESOTA AND ALSO NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. SEE WINTER WEATHER MESSAGES FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS PRICE COUNTY WISCONSIN TODAY AND TONIGHT. LSZ121-140>148-261215- BAYFIELD TO OAK POINT WI-GRAND PORTAGE TO GRAND MARAIS MN- GRAND MARAIS TO TACONITE HARBOR MN- TACONITE HARBOR TO SILVER BAY HARBOR MN- SILVER BAY HARBOR TO TWO HARBORS MN-TWO HARBORS TO DULUTH MN- DULUTH MN TO PORT WING WI-PORT WING TO SAND ISLAND WI- SAND ISLAND TO BAYFIELD WI-OAK POINT TO SAXON HARBOR WI- 711 AM CDT FRI APR 25 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE NEARSHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT GUSTY WINDS TO 30 KNOTS WILL RESULT IN SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES FOR THE NEARSNORE WATERS FROM NOON TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY GUSTY WINDS TO 30 KNOTS WILL RESULT IN SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES FOR THE TWIN PORTS AREA SATURDAY THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING AND ALONG THE WISCONSIN SOUTH SHORE SATURDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT. EOM
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
7 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Winter Storm, Southern Cass
- When
- April 25, 2:00 PM CST to April 26, 7:00 PM CST
- Where
- Southern Cass forecast zone
- Reported by
- Trained Spotter
- Coordinates
- 46.950, -94.325 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Winter Storm, Crow Wing
- When
- April 25, 3:00 PM CST to April 26, 7:00 PM CST
- Where
- Crow Wing forecast zone
- Reported by
- Trained Spotter
- Coordinates
- 46.482, -94.071 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Winter Storm, Koochiching
- When
- April 25, 3:00 PM CST to April 26, 10:00 PM CST
- Where
- Koochiching forecast zone
- Reported by
- Trained Spotter
- Coordinates
- 48.245, -93.783 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Winter Storm, Northern Itasca
- When
- April 25, 3:00 PM CST to April 26, 9:00 PM CST
- Where
- Northern Itasca forecast zone
- Reported by
- Trained Spotter
- Coordinates
- 47.510, -93.632 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Winter Storm, Northern St. Louis
- When
- April 25, 3:00 PM CST to April 26, 10:00 PM CST
- Where
- Northern St. Louis forecast zone
- Reported by
- Trained Spotter
- Coordinates
- 47.590, -92.461 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Winter Storm, Southern Itasca
- When
- April 25, 3:00 PM CST to April 26, 8:00 PM CST
- Where
- Southern Itasca forecast zone
- Reported by
- Trained Spotter
- Coordinates
- 47.510, -93.632 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- Winter Storm
- A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heavy Snow in Alaska, April 25 to 26, 2008
- Flash Flood and Flood in Wisconsin, April 25, 2008
- Tornadoes and Hail in Texas, April 25, 2008
- Flooding in Iowa, April 25 to 30, 2008
- Hail and Lightning Strikes in Illinois, April 25, 2008
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Michigan, April 25, 2008
- Damaging Winds in Indiana, April 25, 2008
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Illinois, April 25, 2008
- Flash Flood and Hail in Texas, April 25 to 26, 2008
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Michigan, April 25, 2008
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Wisconsin, April 25, 2008
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Arkansas, April 25, 2008
More
Every storm in Minnesota in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, April 2008
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: 96242, 96246, 96239, 96240, 96244, 96245, 96247.