An old frontal boundary moved across eastern Minnesota, and into west-central Wisconsin before stalling during the afternoon of Tuesday, May 25th. Scattered thunderstorms developed during the afternoon along this boundary where wind shear values were around 30 knots, and instability parameters were approaching 3000 J/kg.
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The episode as NWS MPX wrote it up.
An old frontal boundary moved across eastern Minnesota, and into west-central Wisconsin before stalling during the afternoon of Tuesday, May 25th. Scattered thunderstorms developed during the afternoon along this boundary where wind shear values were around 30 knots, and instability parameters were approaching 3000 J/kg. This caused some of the thunderstorms to produced isolated wind damage near Hawkins, Ingram and north of Bruce, Wisconsin.
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 May 25, 12:04 PM CST, 26 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 104 PM CDT TUE MAY 25 2010 .UPDATE... ADDED 18Z TAF DISCUSSION BELOW. && .DISCUSSION... ONE MORE DAY OF ABNORMALLY HOT AND HUMID WEATHER LIES AHEAD TODAY AS A COLD FRONT WEAKENS AS IT MOVES ACROSS THE AREA. WILL SEE THUNDERSTORM CHANCES LINGER INTO TONIGHT...BUT COME WEDNESDAY...MUCH DRIER AIR WORKS INTO THE REGION...GETTING RID OF THE HUMIDITY AND KNOCKING TEMPS BACK A BIT INTO THE WEEKEND. REMNANTS OF CONVECTION YESTERDAY ACROSS SODAK WORKING ACROSS THE AREA NOW...WITH A STRONG OUTFLOW BOUNDARY NOTED ON RADAR JUST PUSHING PAST THE I35 CORRIDOR AT 330 AM. THIS BOUNDARY HAD SOME MUCH STRONGER WINDS AS IT CAME INTO WRN MN...WITH NUMEROUS AIRPORTS REPORTING GUSTS AROUND 50 MPH /67 MPH AT WINDOM WAS THE HIGHEST/...BUT AS THE LINE CAME THROUGH THE CITIES IT WAS LUCKY TO MUSTER UP 30 KTS. ALTHOUGH THIS IS LOSING SOME OF ITS PUNCH...SHOULD BE ABLE TO MAKE IT INTO WRN WI IN SOME FORM THIS MORNING. THE BIG QUESTION SURROUNDING THIS OUTFLOW BOUNDARY IS HOW WILL IT IMPACT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ACROSS THE AREA FOR POTENTIAL THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THIS AFTERNOON. DEWPS BEHIND THE FRONT HAVE TAKEN A DIVE BACK INTO THE LOW 50S BEHIND. AT 06Z THE SYNOPTIC COLD FRONT WAS ANALYZED BACK IN ERN SODAK...BUT UNLESS WE GET SOME FORM OF MOISTURE RETURN BEHIND THIS OUTFLOW BOUNDARY...CONVECTION WILL BE HARD TO COME BY THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS MOST OF MN. AT ANY RATE...HAVE PULLED THUNDER CHANCES FURTHER EAST TODAY...MATCHING UP MORE WITH THE 06Z NAM...WHICH BASICALLY KEEPS THE MN PORTION OF THE CWA DRY...WITH MOST OF THE AFTERNOON ACTIVITY ACROSS WI. IN WI...ML CAPES ARE STILL FORECAST TO GET UP AROUND 3K J/KG...SO PLENTY OF INSTABILITY TO REFIRE CONVECTION ALONG THE FRONT/OUTFLOW BNDRY...BUT WITH BULK SHEAR IN THE 20 TO 30 KT RANGE...STORMS WILL BE MORE OF AN AIRMASS TYPE...KEEPING SEVERE THREAT TO ONLY BEING ISOLATED. LATER TONIGHT...A WAVE CURRENTLY OVER KS/OK WILL BE COMING ACROSS THE CWA...ESPECIALLY IN THE 06-12Z TIME FRAME. THIS WILL LIKELY KEEP THUNDER ACTIVITY GOING WELL INTO THE NIGHT...AND THIS MAY ACTUALLY BE WHEN AREA SEES ITS MOST WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE. AGAIN WITH SHEAR LIMITED...SEVERE THREAT LOOKS TO BE LIMITED...THOUGH RAINFALL AMOUNTS WILL LIKELY BE HIGHER THANKS TO THE ENHANCED LIFT. AFTER THAT...FRONT WILL MOSTLY BE OUT OF THE AREA BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...WITH THINGS LOOKING DRY UNTIL SUNDAY/MONDAY...WHEN ANOTHER FRONT IS PROGGED TO SWEEP THROUGH. MAIN TREND WITH 25.00 RUNS OF THE GFS/ECMWF WAS TO SLOW THE PROGRESSION OF THIS FRONT DOWN...ESPECIALLY ON THE ECMWF...WHICH BASICALLY KEEPS THE AREA DRY UNTIL LATE SUNDAY NIGHT...WITH THE FRONT HOLDING OFF ON ENTERING THE REGION UNTIL MEMORIAL DAY. AFTER THAT...THINGS GET A LITTLE MUDDIED AS MED RANGE MODELS TRANSITION CURRENT HIGHLY AMPLIFIED PATTERN INTO MORE OF A ZONAL PATTERN FOR NEXT WEEK. THIS WILL LIKELY KEEP THINGS COOLER NEXT WEEK...BUT POSSIBLY MORE UNSETTLED AS THE ZONAL FLOW OFTEN IS. FINAL ISSUE IS TEMPERATURES. ONE MORE HOT ONE TODAY...THOUGH SHOULD NOT BE QUITE AS WARM AS YESTERDAY...DID UP TEMPERATURES SOME ACROSS ERN HALF OF MN AS LESS CLOUD COVER SHOULD ALLOW TEMPERATURES TO WARM CONSIDERABLY. HOWEVER...H85 TEMPS HAVE FALLEN A FEW DEGREES C OVERNIGHT...SO ONLY EXPECT AN ISOLATED 90 OR TWO. BIG STORY FOR MSP IS TONIGHT LOOKS TO BE THE FIRST TIME SINCE SATURDAY MORNING THAT THE MERCURY WILL DIP BELOW THE 70 DEGREE MARK. APPROACHING 72 HOURS WITH 70+F TEMPS IS QUITE THE RARITY FOR MSP IN THE MONTH OF MAY. GOOD NEWS...FROM WEDNESDAY ON... TEMPERATURES LOOK TO REMAIN NEAR TO A LITTLE ABOVE NORMAL...WITH LOWS GETTING BACKING INTO THE 50S AND HIGHS GETTING UP AROUND 80. && .AVIATION.../18Z TAF ISSUANCE/ MAIN INSTABILITY AXIS IS OVER WEST CENTRAL WI AT THIS TIME AND WILL REMAIN IN THAT AREA FOR THE AFTERNOON. THE GREATEST RISK OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE OVER KEAU THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. OTHERWISE A FRONTAL BOUNDARY OVER EASTER CENTRAL MN WILL MOVE SLOWLY INTO WESTERN WISCONSIN BY EVENING. MEANWHILE..AN UPPER LEVEL WAVE OVER KANSAS WILL BE MOVING NE TONIGHT...INCREASING THE CHANCE OF SHOWERS OVER SOUTH CENTRAL MN AND OTHER AREAS OF WEST CENTRAL WI. VFR CIGS ARE EXPECTED...POSSIBLY LOWERING TO 050...KRWF TO KMSP AND KRNH. LOWER CIGS INTO MVFR DURING TSTMS VCNTY KEAU. KSTC AND KAXN SHOULD SEE CIGS AOA 070. THE WAVE SHOULD EXIT THE AREA BY WED AFTERNOON WITH SKC-SCT250 CLOUD CONDITIONS. KMSP...VFR FOR THE ENTIRE PERIOD. INCREASING CHC OF SHOWERS THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT WITH CIGS RMRNG AOA 050. EXPECTING THUNDER TO REMAIN GENERALLY EAST. CLOUDS AND CIGS CLEARING TO MAINLY SKC CONDITIONS BY WED AFTERNOON. WINDS GRADUALLY SWINGING FROM S TO SW DURING THE AFTERNOON...AND THEN TO NNW OVERNIGHT AND NNE ON WEDNESDAY. && .MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. && MPG/JPR
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 127 PM CDT TUE MAY 25 2010 MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028- 261100- 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- 127 PM CDT TUE MAY 25 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA...AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER PARTS OF WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING...MAINLY EAST OF RICE LAKE AND DURAND. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WOULD BE THE SEVERE WEATHER TREATS. OTHER THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE REMAINDER OF WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN AND INTO PARTS OF EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA. THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE SOME SMALL HAIL. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE EARLY TONIGHT AS WELL...BUT THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE ENDING...AS THE COLD FRONT MOVES FARTHER EAST. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY ANOTHER FRONT MOVING INTO THE OUTLOOK AREA IN THE SUNDAY AND MONDAY TIME FRAME WILL RENEW CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS. HOWEVER...AT THIS TIME THE SEVERE TREAT LOOKS TO BE MINIMAL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED OVER PARTS OF WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING.
The Duluth radar (KDLH), 187 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:32 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe wind gusts caused trees to be blown down near Hawkins, Wisconsin.
Severe winds caused trees to be blown down near Ingram, and rural areas north of Ladysmith.
Thunderstorm winds caused a 12 inch diameter tree branch to be blown down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, May 2010
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: 222071, 222072, 222073.