Severe thunderstorms developed across the northwestern quarter of Minnesota Thursday (12th) evening, ahead of a stacked low pressure system over northwest North Dakota. The best instability occurred to the east of the Red River Valley, along a surface trough.
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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 episode as NWS FGF wrote it up.
Severe thunderstorms developed across the northwestern quarter of Minnesota Thursday (12th) evening, ahead of a stacked low pressure system over northwest North Dakota. The best instability occurred to the east of the Red River Valley, along a surface trough. Cold temperatures aloft helped to contribute to the instability.
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 12, 12:58 PM CST, 4 hours 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 158 PM CDT THU JUN 12 2008 .SHORT TERM... THE CHALLENGE THROUGH THE FORECAST WILL BE CONVECTIVE CHANCES AND TEMPS. A VIGOROUS UPPER LEVEL TROUGH CONTINUES TO SPIN OVER EXTREME NW ND. MODELS ARE DOING A GOOD JOB OVERALL...BUT PREFER THE COOLER GFS WHICH INITIALIZED WELL THIS MORNING. FOR TONIGHT...EXPECT SCATTERED EVENING THUNDERSTORMS...SOME POSSIBLY SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL/DAMAGING WINDS. THE BEST INSTABILITY APPEARS TO BE ALONG AND EAST OF THE VALLEY...AND THIS SHOULD COINCIDE WITH A TROUGH MOVING THROUGH DEEP CYCLONIC FLOW. THE LIMITING FACTOR TO SEVERE STORMS MAY BE MOISTURE PROFILES...BUT WITH VERY COLD AIR ALOFT (-20C 500MB TEMPS)...EXPECT AT LEAST A FEW SEVERE STORMS. SHEAR WILL ALSO BE SUFFICIENT FOR STORMS TO BRIEFLY ROTATE...WHICH MAY ADD TO A MORE ORGANIZED THREAT IF ENOUGH MOISTURE CAN POOL BEFORE CONVECTIVE TEMPS ARE REACHED. WE WILL MENTION SEVERE STORMS IN THE GRIDS THROUGH 03Z. ON FRI...THE COLD CORE LOW WILL SKIRT THE INTERNATIONAL BORDER. TEMPS WILL REMAIN WELL BELOW NORMAL...WITH VERY LOW CONVECTIVE TEMPS AROUND 60. INSTABILITY FIELDS ARE RATHER WEAK...WITH LI/S TO -1C AND MAYBE CAPE TO AROUND 400 J/KG. GIVEN THE COLD AIR ALOFT THOUGH AND STEEP LAPSE RATES...THUNDER WILL ONCE AGAIN BE POSSIBLE. ON SAT/SUN...THE CONTINUED THREAT FOR AFTERNOON THUNDER IS EXPECTED. THERE WILL BE MORE INSTABILITY ON SAT...WITH CAPES APPROACHING 1000 J/KG. A FAIRLY STRONG SHORTWAVE AND A WEAK SFC BOUNDARY IS ALSO PROGGED BY SAT AFTERNOON...SO A FEW SEVERE STORMS ALSO POSSIBLE. FOR SUNDAY...ANOTHER COLD FRONT WILL PASS THROUGH THE NORTH...AND LIKELY AID MORE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT DURING THE AFTERNOON. THEREFORE...THE ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN WILL CONTINUE WITH CHANCES FOR SHOWERS/THUNDER THROUGHOUT AND TEMPS BELOW NORMAL. .LONG TERM (MON-THU)...MODELS IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT THROUGH THE PERIOD. MAIN IDEA IS FOR A BRIEF RIDGE TO AFFECT THE REGION THROUGH AT LEAST WED. MODELS DIFFER WITH AMPLITUDE AND TIMING OF WAVES TO BREAK DOWN THIS FEATURE. WILL MAINTAIN DRY FORECAST THROUGH MUCH OF THE PERIOD WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR PRECIP TOWARD THE END OF THE PERIOD AS RIDGE BREAKS DOWN. TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE NEAR NORMAL. && .AVIATION...MAIN CHALLENGE WILL BE TSRA POTENTIAL...WHICH IS PRESENT FOR ALL TAF SITES. EXPECT VFR WITH CU AND ISOLD-SCT TSRA INTO THIS EVENING. WINDS WILL BE SOUTHWEST 15-25KTS WITH A FEW HIGHER GUSTS INTO THIS EVENING AS WELL. THERE IS A RATHER GOOD CHANCE FOR MVFR CLOUD HEIGHTS BY MORNING (BEST CHANCES CLOSER TO THE INTERNATIONAL BORDER). && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...NONE. MN...NONE. && DK/TG
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 509 AM CDT THU JUN 12 2008 MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-131015- WEST POLK-NORMAN-CLAY-KITTSON-ROSEAU-LAKE OF THE WOODS- WEST MARSHALL-EAST MARSHALL-NORTH BELTRAMI-PENNINGTON-RED LAKE- EAST POLK-NORTH CLEARWATER-SOUTH BELTRAMI-MAHNOMEN- SOUTH CLEARWATER-HUBBARD-WEST BECKER-EAST BECKER-WILKIN- WEST OTTER TAIL-EAST OTTER TAIL-WADENA-GRANT-TOWNER-CAVALIER- PEMBINA-BENSON-RAMSEY-EASTERN WALSH COUNTY-EDDY-NELSON- GRAND FORKS-GRIGGS-STEELE-TRAILL-BARNES-CASS-RANSOM-SARGENT- RICHLAND-WESTERN WALSH COUNTY- 509 AM CDT THU JUN 12 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A FEW THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING MAY PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS. AN UPPER LOWOVER NORTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA WILL MOVE EAST TODAY WITH COLDER AIR MOVING INTO THE AREA IN THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE. ALTHOUGH MOISTURE IS LESS THAN ON WEDNESDAY...THE COLD AIR ALOFT WILL CREATE ENOUGH INSTABILITY FOR AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA. THE MAIN THREAT TIME IS BETWEEN 3 PM AND 7 PM. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. RIVERS WILL REMAIN HIGH IN THE SOUTHERN RED RIVER VALLEY THROUGH THE PERIOD DUE TO RECENT RAINS. SEE THE LATEST FLOOD STATEMENTS FOR UPDATED INFORMATION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. DTR
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 192 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:58 UTC.
14 hail, 5 tornado, 4 funnel cloud, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Golf ball size hail fell for about four minutes from 6:00 PM to 6:04 PM.
A tornado tracked intermittently for about 2 miles to around one mile south of Midway by 643 pm CDT. Several poplar trees were snapped off along the path. The tornado was viewed from a point nearly 15 miles north-northwest. Peak winds were estimated to 85 mph.
A funnel cloud was veiwed overhead at a WalMart store.
A tornado tracked for about 1.5 miles to around 2 miles southeast of Nevis by 717 pm CDT. Several large trees were uprooted or knocked down along a path which crossed county road 13 south of state highway 34. Peak winds were estimated to 90 mph.
Dime to quarter size hail fell from 7:20 PM to 7:26 PM.
Several large four to six inch diameter branches were knocked down by the wind.
The hail continued for about four minutes, or from 7:37 PM to 7:41 PM.
A persistent funnel was viewed between Star Lake and Big McDonald Lake.
A tornado tracked intermittently for nearly 8 miles to around 6 miles west of Lake George by 9 pm CDT. The tornado travelled for about 3 miles and crossed into Clearwater County about 7 miles north-northwest of Two Inlets by 850 pm CDT. It continued across extreme southeast Clearwater County into northwest Hubbard County. Numerous trees were knocked down along the path near state highway 113. Peak winds were estimated to 105 mph.
This tornado originated in Becker County at 844 pm CDT. It travelled about 2 miles across extreme southeast Clearwater County to around 5 miles south-southeast of Lake Itasca by 854 pm CDT. From there it continued into Hubbard County. Several large trees were knocked down or uprooted along its path. Peak winds were estimated to 105 mph.
This tornado originated in Becker County at 844 pm CDT and then crossed extreme southeast Clearwater County before entering Hubbard County. It travelled for an additional 3 miles into Hubbard County before lifting about 6 miles west of Lake George by 9 pm CDT. The total track length was nearly 8 miles. Several large trees were snapped off or uprooted near U.S. Highway 71. Peak winds were estimated to 105 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Minnesota, 2008Warnings in Minnesota, June 2008
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: 115981, 115982, 115983, 115984, 119478, 115987, 115990, 118981, 115993, 115995, 119481, 115998, 116001, 118982, 116002, 116004, 116006, 118986, 116007, 118987, 119491, 119499, 119502, 116008.