Severe Drought (D2) continued over most of the region, with the exception of the Arrowhead counties of Cook and Lake, areas bordering the Canadian border and portions of Northern Itasca and Northern Cass counties.
Every event with a place to put it; 11 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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.
Severe Drought (D2) continued over most of the region, with the exception of the Arrowhead counties of Cook and Lake, areas bordering the Canadian border and portions of Northern Itasca and Northern Cass counties.
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 Feb 28, 11:45 PM CST, 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 1145 PM CST THU FEB 28 2013 .AVIATION...06Z TAF ISSUANCE. VFR FLIGHT CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL THROUGH TAF PERIOD AS NORTHEAST WINDS ALLOW DRY CANADIAN AIR TO CONTINUE TO FILTER INTO THE NORTHLAND THROUGH THE DAY. THE EXCEPTION WILL BE AT KHYR WHERE LINGERING MVFR CEILINGS AROUND 2 KFT WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE NIGHT. THE ONSHORE WINDS WILL ALSO BRING LOW END VFR CEILINGS OF 3-4 KFT TO KDLH THROUGH DAYBREAK. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 751 PM CST THU FEB 28 2013/ UPDATE... EVENING UPDATE TO ADJUST SKY COVER. CURRENT SFC OBS AND SAT IMAGERY DEPICTING CLEAR SKIES ACROSS NE MN ZONES...WITH BACK EDGE OF LARGE CLOUD SHIELD LINGERING OVER NW WIS EAST OF A LINE FROM ASHLAND TO HAYWARD. THE 18Z MODEL RUNS ARE SUGGESTING LESS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE THAN PREV RUNS WITH PRESSURE RISES OVERNIGHT AND LARGE SCALE SUBSIDENCE. BASED ON LATEST NAM BUFR SOUNDINGS HAVE KEPT MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES FOR MOST AREAS GOING THROUGH THE NIGHT...WITH SOME HIGH CLOUDS POSSIBLE OVER NORTH CENTRAL MN. PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 354 PM CST THU FEB 28 2013/ SHORT TERM...TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. AT 330 PM...VERY DRY HIGH PRESSURE IN THE VICINITY OF HUDSON BAY WAS SPREADING ACROSS THE NORTHLAND. THE RESULT WAS RAPID CLEARING OF LOW CLOUDS ACROSS MUCH OF NORTHERN MINNESOTA AND PORTIONS OF CENTRAL WISCONSIN. THERE WAS ALSO SOME CLEARING IN PORTIONS OF DOUGLAS COUNTY WISCONSIN. A FEW SNOW SHOWERS WILL LIKELY CONTINUE ALONG THE SOUTH SHORE BUT NOT LOOKING FOR ANY ACCUMULATION AS INVERSION HEIGHTS DROP AND CLOUDS ERODE ACROSS THE LAKE. SKIES WILL LIKELY CONTINUE TO CLEAR FOR A BIT THIS EVENING...BUT THINK THERE WILL BE SOME INCREASE IN CLOUDS AGAIN AS THE NIGHT WEARS ON. SOME RETREATING OF LOW CLOUDS IS LIKELY AS IS SOME INCREASE IN MID TO HIGH CLOUDS. TEMPS WILL BE TRICKY TONIGHT. AS WINDS DROP...TEMPS WILL LIKELY FALL FAIRLY QUICKLY. WILL BE A RACE TO DROP BELOW ZERO AS CLOUDS SPREAD BACK IN AGAIN. THINK THERE WILL BE SOME BELOW ZERO READINGS ACROSS THE NORTH THOUGH. EVEN THOUGH CLOUDS WILL INCREASE AGAIN TONIGHT AND INTO FRIDAY...CLOUDS WILL LIKELY DECREASE ONCE AGAIN THROUGH THE DAY. HIGH TEMPS WILL GENERALLY BE IN THE 20S. LONG TERM...FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY... WEAK HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE IN PLACE ACROSS THE AREA EARLY IN THE PERIOD FRIDAY NIGHT AND EARLY SATURDAY...WITH MUCH OF THE REGION DRY. THE EXCEPTION WILL BE AROUND THE HEAD OF LAKE SUPERIOR AND ALONG SECTIONS OF THE SOUTH SHORE WHERE WEAK ONSHORE FLOW AND COLD TEMPS ALOFT COULD TRIGGER A FEW LAKE EFFECT FLURRIES FROM DULUTH TO ASHLAND. AT THIS TIME IT APPEARS THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BE TOO DRY TO SUPPORT ANY SUBSTANTIAL SNOW. SO...KEPT WITH INCREASED SKY COVER AND SILENT POPS/FLURRIES IN THIS AREA THROUGH SAT MORNING. THE NEXT WEAK CLIPPER SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO DROP SEWD THROUGH SRN MANITOBA INTO NRN MN SAT EVENING AND PRODUCE A FEW SNOW SHOWERS...MAINLY OVER THE MN COUNTIES. THE SYSTEM WILL BE DECAYING THROUGH THE NIGHT...BUT STILL BE CAPABLE OF TAPPING INTO ENOUGH MOISTURE AND FORCING TO PRODUCE UP TO AN INCH OF SNOWFALL ACROSS FAR NERN MN. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SNOW LOOKS TO BE NORTH OF THE IRON RANGE THROUGH SUN MORNING. THE NEXT SYSTEM WILL BE MORE ROBUST...BUT IS EXPECTED TO PASS TO THE SOUTH OF THE NORTHLAND LATE SUN NIGHT THROUGH MON EVENING. LATEST GFS AND ECMWF MODELS CONTINUE TO TRACK THE SFC LOW THROUGH SD/ERN NE AND WRN IA. THIS PLACES THE MAIN SWATH OF PRECIP THROUGH ERN ND AND CENTRAL MN. HAVE BACKED OFF POPS DURING THIS TIME...WITH NO PRECIP EXPECTED NORTH AND EAST OF A LINE FROM INL TO TWO HARBORS...AND ONLY LIGHT SNOW EXPECTED TO THE SOUTH. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK WITH DRY CONDITIONS EXPECTED. TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD WILL REMAIN RELATIVELY MILD WITH HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S AND LOWER 30S. OVERNIGHT LOWS COULD BECOME CHILLY AT TIMES...WITH PERIODS OF CLEAR SKIES DROPPING TEMPS INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS ABOVE AND BELOW ZERO FRI NIGHT AND SAT NIGHT. MIN TEMPS MODERATE SOMEWHAT INTO NEXT WEEK WITH LOWS IN THE TEENS. && .POINT TEMPS/POPS... DLH 10 24 2 27 / 10 10 10 10 INL -3 25 -9 27 / 0 0 0 20 BRD 10 29 4 30 / 0 0 0 20 HYR 11 28 -1 28 / 10 0 0 10 ASX 12 25 6 27 / 10 10 10 10 && .DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. && AVIATION...GRANING
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 401 AM CST THU FEB 28 2013 MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009-011130- 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- 401 AM CST THU FEB 28 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MINNESOTA AND NORTHWEST WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. GSF 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.
11 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Drought conditions persisted over central St. Louis County.
Drought conditions persisted over Crow Wing County.
Drought conditions persisted over southwestern Koochiching County.
Drought conditions persisted over northern Aitkin County.
Drought conditions persisted over the southeastern part of northern Cass County.
Drought conditions persisted over the south central part of northern St. Louis County.
Drought conditions persisted over Pine County.
Drought conditions persisted over southern Aitkin County.
Drought conditions persisted over southern Cass County.
Drought conditions persisted over southeastern Itasca County.
Drought conditions persisted over southern St. Louis and Carlton Counties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, March 2013
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: 432459, 432460, 432463, 432464, 432465, 432466, 432467, 432468, 432469, 432470, 432471.