Very heavy rains on June 19th and 20th resulted in widespread river flooding on the upper Mississippi River and also on Big Sandy Lake (Aitkin County MN) which empties into the Mississippi River. The flooding continued into July, with the Big Sandy Lake finally going below flood level at 900 PM CST on July 21st.
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.
Very heavy rains on June 19th and 20th resulted in widespread river flooding on the upper Mississippi River and also on Big Sandy Lake (Aitkin County MN) which empties into the Mississippi River. The flooding continued into July, with the Big Sandy Lake finally going below flood level at 900 PM CST on July 21st.
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 Jun 30, 10:45 PM CST, 1 hour 16 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 1145 PM CDT SAT JUN 30 2012 AVIATION...06/30/00Z TAF ISSUANCE... VERY ISOLATED VCSH WILL LINGER OVERNIGHT...MAINLY IN THE KBRD AND KINL AREAS. BETTER CHANCES FOR VCSH OR VCTS INCREASE OVER THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON. PRECIP AND ANY STORMS WILL BE SCT/ISO IN NATURE...SO CONFIDENCE IN AFFECTING ANY PARTICULAR TERMINAL IS LOW. WINDS WILL BE LIGHT AND VARIABLE. && PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 316 PM CDT SAT JUN 30 2012/ SHORT TERM...THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT... A TIGHT AND WAVY NORTHWEST FLOW WILL COINCIDE WITH WEAK SURFACE SYSTEMS. PRESENT INDICATIONS ARE THAT WEAK SURFACE TROUGHS WILL COUPLE WITH WEAK SHORT WAVES ALOFT. THERE IS NO MID LEVEL WARM CAP AND PRECIPITABLE WATERS WILL REMAIN 1.5 TO 2 INCHES. FORCING FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE COUNTER-ACTED BY OUR POSITION IN THE RIGHT- FRONT QUADRANT OF A JET ALOFT. DESPITE ABUNDANT MOISTURE...WARMTH ALOFT WILL KEEP STABILITIES JUST A LITTLE BELOW ZERO. SO...THUNDER STORMS WILL FIRE AT RANDOM AND ONLY NEAR A FEW SPOTS THROUGH THE REST OF THE WEEKEND. LONG TERM...MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT... AN ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN WILL SET UP THIS WEEK...BEGINNING ON MONDAY WITH THE MOVEMENT OF A FAIRLY ROBUST SFC TROUGH/COLD FRONT ACROSS NRN MN. THIS FRONT WILL INTERACT WITH A VERY WARM MOIST UNSTABLE AIR MASS IN PLACE ACROSS THE UPPER MIDWEST. STRONG 850MB MOISTURE TRANSPORT FROM THE SOUTH...ML CAPE VALUES GT 2000 J/KG... SUFFICIENT DEEP LAYER SHEAR...STEEP LAPSE RATES WILL ALL CONTRIBUTE TO STRONG CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT AHEAD OF AND ALONG THE COLD FRONT AS IT MOVES THROUGH THE NORTHLAND LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON AND THROUGH THE NIGHT. A FEW OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE MON NIGHT. THE SFC BOUNDARY WILL BECOME NEARLY STATIONARY AND W-E ORIENTED ACROSS THE AREA BY TUESDAY AND ALLOW FOR ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF AFTERNOON/EVENING SHOWERS AND STORMS ALONG THE FRONT TUE INTO WED. A LARGE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD IN FROM THE WEST AND BECOME POSITIONED OVER THE CENTRAL U.S. BY THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK AND ALLOW FOR CONTINUED HOT CONDITIONS TO PERSIST ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION. SOME OF THE RELIEF FOR THE NORTHLAND WILL COME IN THE FORM OF AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND STORMS...NEARLY EVERY DAY THIS WEEK. WILL CONTINUE WITH CHC/SLGT CHC POPS AS TIMING AND LOCATION ARE STILL TOO UNCERTAIN. IT APPEARS THAT BY FRIDAY THE UPPER RIDGE COULD BEGIN TO BECOME SUPPRESSED AS THE STATIONARY FRONT SAGS SWD...AND ANOTHER GOOD CHANCE OF SIGNIFICANT PRECIP MOVES ACROSS THE NORTHLAND INTO EARLY SAT. MUCH OF THE EXTENDED PERIOD THIS WEEK WILL BE DEFINED BY A VERY HOT ATMOSPHERE...WITH DAYTIME HIGHS IN THE UPPER 80S AND LOWER TO MID 90S...DEWPOINTS IN THE 60S AND LOWER 70S WILL CREATE HEAT INDICES IN THE MID TO UPPER 90S...CLOSE TO 100F. HEAT ADVISORIES MAY BE NEEDED THIS WEEK. && .POINT TEMPS/POPS... DLH 61 80 63 81 / 30 30 20 10 INL 56 85 60 90 / 20 20 20 10 BRD 63 88 66 92 / 30 20 10 10 HYR 60 87 65 88 / 20 30 20 20 ASX 60 82 61 83 / 20 30 20 10 && .DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. LS...NONE. && AVIATION...GRANING
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 336 AM CDT SAT JUN 30 2012 MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009-011030- 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- 336 AM CDT SAT JUN 30 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MINNESOTA AND NORTHWEST WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT VARIOUS FLOOD WARNINGS REMAIN IN EFFECT OVER PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST MINNESOTA. SEE THE LATEST FLOOD WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION. A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF THE FAR NORTH AND WEST THIS AFTERNOON...AND OVER MOST AREAS TONIGHT. THE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF THE NORTHLAND SUNDAY THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE PERIOD. THE BEST CHANCE FOR STORMS WILL OCCUR MONDAY NIGHT. SOME OF THE STORMS MONDAY INTO MONDAY NIGHT COULD BE SEVERE...WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL THE MAIN THREATS. FLOOD WARNINGS MAY HAVE TO BE EXTENDED THROUGH SUNDAY INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. LSZ121-140>148-011030- 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- 336 AM CDT SAT JUN 30 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE NEARSHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TONIGHT. THE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE SUNDAY AND AGAIN IN SPOTS MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE PERIOD. THE STORMS MONDAY NIGHT COULD BE QUITE STRONG. MELDE MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESS: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/DULUTH (ALL LOWER CASE)
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Mississippi River at Aitkin began July at 18.40 feet and went below their flood stage of 12 feet at 4:30 PM July 19th.
Big Sandy Lake began July at 1222.73 feet ASL and fell below its flood stage of 1218.3 ASL at 9:00 PM CST on July 21st.
The Mississippi River at Brainerd began July above its previous record flood, at 17.48 feet. The river at Brainerd fell to its 13 foot flood stage at 800 AM on July 16th.
The Mississippi River at Ft Ripley began July at 11.68 feet and fell to its 10 foot flood stage at 10:00 AM July 14th.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, July 2012
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: 398812, 398820, 398826, 398829.