A slow moving trough of low pressure produced numerous thunderstorms across northeastern Minnesota. At least one storm became severe and produced wind damage in West Duluth.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 episode as NWS DLH wrote it up.
A slow moving trough of low pressure produced numerous thunderstorms across northeastern Minnesota. At least one storm became severe and produced wind damage in West Duluth.
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 23, 12:52 PM CST, 3 hours 47 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 152 PM CDT TUE SEP 23 2008 .DISCUSSION... FNTL BNDRY OVR WRN MN CONTS TO MOVE VERY SLOWLY EWD IN RESPONSE TO UPR TROF SWINGING ACRS UPR MIDWEST/WRN GRT LKS. SCTD CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY WILL CONT ALG AND JUST AHD OF FNTL ZONE INTO THE EVE HRS. EXTENSIVE CLD CVR INHIBITING DESTABILIZATION OF PRE-FNTL AMS...ALTHO MUCAPES UP TO 2000 J/KG STILL BEING OBSERVED OVR NRN MN...ALG WITH 40-50 KT LOLVL JET AND DPTS IN THE LOWER 60S. SLGT RISK ON SWODY1 STILL RSNBL...ESPECIALLY FOR ANY AREAS THAT SEE SOME SUNSHINE LATER THIS AFTN. MODELS IN GOOD AGMT IN MOVG UPR TROF OUT OF THE REGION BY MIDDAY WED...FOLLOWED BY WEAK RIDGING. WLY ZONAL FLOW THEN RE-ESTABLISHES...WITH TWO PRIMARY S/WV TROFS BRINGING ENHANCED CHANCES OF RAIN/STORMS FRI/FRI NGT AND AGAIN SUN NGT/MON. GFS AND ECMWF REMAIN IN RSNBLY GOOD AGMT EVEN IN THE LATER PDS...WHICH IMPROVES CONFIDENCE IN FCST FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK. ESTABLISHMENT OF STRONG BLOCKING RIDGE SHUD BRING A DRY PD FOR THE REST OF NEXT WEEK. && .AVIATION...GENERALLY VFR AND MVFR CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH TONIGHT AS A COLD FRONT SLOWLY PUSHES SOUTHEAST ACROSS MINNEOSTA AND ULTIMATELY INTO NW WISCONSIN BY MIDNIGHT. WHILE THE LOWEST CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES WILL OCCUR IN AND NEAR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...POCKETS OF MVFR WILL PERSIST OUTSIDE OF THESE AREAS AS WELL. SOME STORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING COULD TURN QUITE STRONG...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR A CONVECTIVE BAND OR SQUALL LINE THAT MAY CONTAIN GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL...AS BULK SHEAR REMAINS STRONG AND INSTABILITY PARAMETERS ARE FAVORABLE. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE ACROSS THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL PORTIONS OF THE AREA BY 06Z...AND IN THE EASTERN AREAS INCLUDING KHYR BY 12Z. IF BOTH CLOUDS AND WINDS DECREASE SUFFICIENTLY...SOME AREAS OF FOG MAY BE POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY FROM 10Z-13Z...MAINLY FROM KBRD TO KHIB AND POINTS NORTH AND WEST. VFR FLYING CAN BE EXPECTED IN ALL AREAS BY 14Z WEDNESDAY AS DRIER AIR IS ADVECTED INTO THE REGION. SOUTHERLY SURFACE WINDS...AVERAGING 10-15KTS WITH SOME HIGHER GUSTS...WILL TURN WEST LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY WEDNESDAY. && POINT TEMPS/POPS... DLH 52 69 46 69 / 70 20 10 20 INL 49 66 42 71 / 50 20 10 30 BRD 51 69 47 75 / 50 20 10 20 HYR 53 71 40 73 / 80 10 10 20 ASX 54 70 43 72 / 80 10 10 20 && .DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. LS...NONE. 04/BETTWY/BERDES
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 441 AM CDT TUE SEP 23 2008 MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009-241030- 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- 441 AM CDT TUE SEP 23 2008 ...SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE STORMS OVER PORTIONS OF THE NORTHLAND TODAY AND THIS EVENING... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MINNESOTA AND NORTHWEST WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER MUCH OF THE NORTHLAND TODAY AND TONIGHT. A FEW STORMS MAY BE SEVERE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS THE MAIN THREATS. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE STORMS...WILL BE AROUND BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE BRAINERD LAKES...CASS LAKE...AIKTIN...AND PINE CITY AREAS. THE STORMS WILL BE MOST WIDESPREAD OVER THE BRAINERD LAKES AREA NORTH THROUGH GRAND RAPIDS...TO INTERNATIONAL FALLS THIS MORNING. STORMS WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD OVER EASTERN MINNESOTA AND NORTHWEST WISCONSIN THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AT TIMES THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. LSZ121-140>148-241030- 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- 441 AM CDT TUE SEP 23 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE NEARSHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER MUCH OF THE NORTHLAND TODAY AND TONIGHT. A FEW STORMS MAY BE SEVERE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS THE MAIN THREATS. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE STORMS...WILL BE AROUND BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE BRAINERD LAKES...CASS LAKE...AIKTIN...AND PINE CITY AREAS. THE STORMS WILL BE MOST WIDESPREAD OVER THE BRAINERD LAKES AREA NORTH THROUGH GRAND RAPIDS...TO INTERNATIONAL FALLS THIS MORNING. STORMS WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD OVER EASTERN MINNESOTA AND NORTHWEST WISCONSIN THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. GUSTY SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE SOUTH SHORE AND FROM THE TWIN PORTS TO NEAR SILVER BAY TODAY. SMALL CRAFT SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AT TIMES THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. MELDE MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESS: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/DULUTH (ALL LOWER CASE)
The Duluth radar (KDLH), 11 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:39 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A large tree up to two feet in diameter was blown down across 59th Avenue West, in West Duluth.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, September 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: 134366.