A complex of thunderstorms that developed across South Dakota early Tuesday morning, August 2nd, moved eastward into west-central, central and east-central Minnesota, then into west-central Wisconsin during the late morning. Brief severe wind gusts along a bow echo moved across the area, with mainly tree damage.
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 MPX wrote it up.
A complex of thunderstorms that developed across South Dakota early Tuesday morning, August 2nd, moved eastward into west-central, central and east-central Minnesota, then into west-central Wisconsin during the late morning. Brief severe wind gusts along a bow echo moved across the area, with mainly tree damage. In addition to the wind damage, two waves of thunderstorms that moved across portions of Rusk County, produced locally two to four inches of rain, and caused roads to washout near Hawkins.
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 Aug 2, 5:55 AM CST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 655 AM CDT TUE AUG 2 2011 .AVIATION... /12Z TAF ISSUANCE/ BOUTS OF CONVECTION AND MVFR CONDITIONS THIS MORNING AS A COLD FRONT IN WESTERN MN MOVES EAST ACROSS THE TAF SITES. WIND GUSTS TO 45 KNOTS POSSIBLE IN THE STORMS ALONG WITH BRIEF TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS. IN THE WAKE OF THE FRONT...MVFR CEILINGS (015-025) EXPECTED FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS. IMPROVEMENT THEREAFTER WITH INCREASING NORTHWEST WINDS (12-15G22KT) THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. VFR KC TONIGHT AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN. WINDS WILL FROM THE NORTH WITH SPEEDS DIMINISHING TO LESS THAN 10 KNOTS. KMSP...MINOR CONVECTION PASSING SOUTH OF THE AIRPORT THROUGH 14Z. THEREAFTER...A BROKEN LINE OF CONVECTION LIKELY AS A COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH BY 16Z. WINDS TURNING NORTHWEST (320-330) WITH FRONTAL PASSAGE WITH SPEEDS OF 13G20KT LIKELY. CEILINGS LOWERING TO 020 FOR A TIME WITH FRONTAL PASSAGE. VFR CONDITIONS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY. && .DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 327 AM CDT TUE AUG 2 2011/ YET ANOTHER BUSY NIGHT ACROSS THE CWA WITH ONE COMPLEX RIDING SOUTHEAST AND WILL AFFECT WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN DURING THE MORNING. FARTHER WEST...A FORWARD PROPAGATING MCV RACING NORTHEAST ACROSS EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA. MODELS DIDNT DO TOO MUCH WITH THIS AS IS MOVED INTO WESTERN MN. DOES APPEAR THAT AS UPPER TROUGH/HEIGHT FALLS MOVE INTO THE WEST SHOULD BE ABLE TO INITIATE SOME SCT/BKN TSRA. VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS OVER THE AREA WITH LAPS SOUNDING SHOWING IN EXCESS OF 4000 CAPE AHEAD OF FRONT. WIND AND HEAVY RAIN WILL BE THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREATS ONCE AGAIN THROUGH THE MORNING. THOUGHT ABOUT ISSUING FLOOD WATCH OVER WISCONSIN THIS MORNING...BUT APPEARS FORWARD PROPAGATING SYSTEM SHOULD PRECLUDE TORRENTIAL RAINFALL. COLD FRONT PROGGED TO MOVE INTO CENTRAL MN THROUGH THE NOON HOUR AND THEN DROPPING OUT OF THE AREA BY LATE AFTERNOON. WILL END THE RAIN THREAT AFTER 21Z. STILL SEE DEWPOINTS REMAINING THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING AS DRIER AIR SLOW TO PROGRESS EAST. DRY AND NOT AS WARM FOR WEDNESDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE DROPS SOUTHEAST OVER THE AREA. STILL WILL MAINTAIN SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURE TREND HOWEVER. NEXT SHOT AT SOME SHOWERS MOVES INTO SOUTHERN CWA THURSDAY/THU NIGHT PERIOD AS SHORT WAVE ENERGY RIDES ACROSS IOWA ALONG OLD FRONT. THIS EXITS TO THE EAST WITH THE NEXT WAVE MOVING INTO THE AREA SATURDAY AND LINGERING INTO SUNDAY. THE 00Z GFS REMAINS FASTEST WITH THE MOVEMENT OF THIS FEATURE. WILL CONTINUE POPS FOR SAT INTO SUNDAY FOR THIS SYSTEM...WITH THE ECMWF NOT QUITE AS FAST. LONGER RANGE TREND STILL INDICATING A BETTER INFLUX OF CANADIAN AIR LATER NEXT WEAK AS WESTERN RIDGE RETROGRADES AND FLATTENS A BIT...ALLOWING HUDSON BAY LOW TO DROP A BIT FARTHER SOUTH. THIS WILL ALLOW LARGE...DRY...CANADIAN HIGH TO FINALLY DROP OVER THE WESTERN GREAT LAKES. && .MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. && RAH/DWE
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 346 AM CDT TUE AUG 2 2011 MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028- 031215- 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- 346 AM CDT TUE AUG 2 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA... AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER MUCH OF THE AREA THROUGH THE MORNING AS A COLD FRONT MOVES EAST. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE...WITH THE MAIN THREAT FROM DAMAGING WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT AND AGAIN OVER THE WEEKEND. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS MORNING.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
819 AM CDT TUE AUG 02 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0814 AM TSTM WND DMG COLLEGEVILLE 45.60N 94.37W
08/02/2011 STEARNS MN TRAINED SPOTTER
14 INCH PINE TREE BROKEN OFF AT ST JOHNS UNIVERSITY.
&&
CARLYONPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
823 AM CDT TUE AUG 02 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0800 AM TSTM WND DMG 2 NW HOWARD LAKE 45.08N 94.09W
08/02/2011 WRIGHT MN LAW ENFORCEMENT
LARGE TREE BLOCKING COUNTY ROAD 5.
&&
CARLYONPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
825 AM CDT TUE AUG 02 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0820 AM TSTM WND DMG 2 NNW ELK RIVER 45.36N 93.58W
08/02/2011 SHERBURNE MN TRAINED SPOTTER
SEVERAL 18 DIAMETER OAK TREES BLOWN DOWN.
&&
CARLYONPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
838 AM CDT TUE AUG 02 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0835 AM TSTM WND DMG E RAMSEY 45.26N 93.45W
08/02/2011 ANOKA MN TRAINED SPOTTER
TREES DOWN.
&&
CARLYONPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
849 AM CDT TUE AUG 02 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0808 AM TSTM WND DMG SAUK RAPIDS 45.59N 94.17W
08/02/2011 BENTON MN LAW ENFORCEMENT
LOT OF TREES DOWN AROUND TOWN.
&&
CARLYONPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
902 AM CDT TUE AUG 02 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0855 AM TSTM WND DMG 1 W ATHENS 45.44N 93.27W
08/02/2011 ISANTI MN LAW ENFORCEMENT
TREES DOWN.
&&
CARLYONThe Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 83 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:05 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
One-third of a greenhouse roof was removed, along with numerous trees uprooted at the Philadelphia Community Farm, southwest of Osceola.
A large tree was blown down near Dresser.
A large 18 inch diameter tree limb blew down near Luck, Wisconsin.
Several large tree branches were blown down near Brill.
Two county roads were washed out in far eastern Rusk County due to excessive rainfall of two to four inches in less than 2 hours.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, August 2011
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: 318642, 318644, 318658, 318645, 318646.