Thunderstorms that began the afternoon of Wednesday, June 8th in southwestern Minnesota, continued to form north and east along an elevated warm front during the overnight period. Although most of the storms were producing dime to nickel size hail, a few storms were strong enough to produce up to tennis ball size hail northwest of Watertown, and half dollar size hail around Burnsville.
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.
Thunderstorms that began the afternoon of Wednesday, June 8th in southwestern Minnesota, continued to form north and east along an elevated warm front during the overnight period. Although most of the storms were producing dime to nickel size hail, a few storms were strong enough to produce up to tennis ball size hail northwest of Watertown, and half dollar size hail around Burnsville.
The majority of the hail that fell around the western and southern part of the Twin Cities (from Chaska, southeast to Burnsville, Apple Valley and Rosemount) was between dime and nickel size based on several social media photos and trained spotters.
In addition to the hail and wind damage, locally two to four inches of rain fell in less than 5 hours from Waconia, Chaska, Chanhassen, Shakopee, Eden Prairie and Savage. The heaviest rainfall occurred around Chaska where 3.60 inches of rain fell in less than 5 hours.
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 Jun 8, 10:49 PM CST, 2 hours 11 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN 1149 PM CDT WED JUN 8 2016 .UPDATE... Issued at 957 PM CDT Wed Jun 8 2016 Thunderstorm activity is beginning to tick upward a bit in organization and intensity, particularly from around Willmar southeastward to Mankato and Albert Lea. A slow moving front located from South Dakota eastward to far southwestern Minnesota and western Iowa will continue to be the focus for additional development overnight. PWATs have increased to 1.5 inches across south central and southwestern MN, with the tight gradient now aligned along I-94 west of the Twin Cities and along the Mississippi River east of the Twin Cities. Understandably, there has been very little or no activity north of that gradient. Elevated instability accompanies the deeper moisture with up to 750 J/KG MUCAPE. The ongoing convection may limit the northward progress of the front tonight. This would increase the threat for locally heavy rain and flash flooding along the Minnesota River where storms are currently located and will likely be located for several more hours. 850 mb moisture transport is not too impressive yet, but with the LLJ strengthening overnight it should facilitate a continuation of thunderstorm growth. Some locations have received over 2 inches of rain in narrow corridors from Redwood Falls to New Ulm and Mountain Lake to Blue Earth. If these locations see more heavy rain, will need to watch for flash flooding. Otherwise, it appears the heavy rain is transient and localized enough to preclude a Flash Flood Watch for now. However, if convection continues to organize and develop further, portions of south central and southwestern MN may need a headline overnight. && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Thursday) Issued at 420 PM CDT Wed Jun 8 2016 Ongoing showers and thunderstorms in western MN this afternoon are slowly working eastward with time. Strong theta-e advection across that area is aiding in providing enough lift to tap into elevated instability and produce scattered thunderstorm activity. This area will likely expand as a low level jet evident at 850mb increases after dark. Hence, increased pops across the board with likely pops moving through. With confidence increasing in the expansive precipitation area later, upped QPF values to near 0.5", much needed rain for many. Thunderstorms are generally expected to be sub- severe and remain elevated tonight. We could see small hail in some of the stronger cores, so that and lightning are the threats for folks outside. We could see fog form overnight across portions of the forecast area, but at this time confidence in the extent and density is low so left it out of the official forecast. For tomorrow we see the pattern change continue with southwesterly low level winds and the hot upper ridge beginning to build in. Dew points will be on the rise as well, so this will be the beginning of a bit of a hot and muggy stretch to finish out the week and head into this weekend. Dew points will rise into the mid and upper 60s by tomorrow afternoon, so it will feel quite a bit different outside 24 hours from now. .LONG TERM...(Thursday night through Wednesday) Issued at 420 PM CDT Wed Jun 8 2016 The ridge builds in across the Upper Mississippi River Valley Thursday night into Friday and a warm front lifts north across the area. South of the front, which should be most of southern MN and west central WI, we expect upper 80s to mid 90s for highs to go along with dewpoints that climb well into the 60s. We wouldn't surprised to see a few locations hit 70 for a dewpoint. The biggest question on Friday is just how far north does the warm front set up, because along and north of this boundary, there will be a chance for thunderstorms. At this time, this looks to be more like northern MN during the day Friday, but the front should sag southward during the evening and pull the CAPE/moisture gradient south. If this happens, then most of the forecast is at risk to see a cluster of showers and storms late in the day on Friday along the instability gradient. We have added pops to the forecast to account for this threat. The GFS/ECMWF are more consistent with this thinking than they have been in previous runs. Saturday is trending a bit warmer than the past couple runs and the break down of the upper ridge still looks to take place Monday and Tuesday and bring another 1-2 rounds of showers and storms. Overall, the heat remains, but the threat for rain looks better over the next few days than what we were previously thinking. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Thursday night) Issued at 1149 PM CDT Wed Jun 8 2016 Scattered showers and thunderstorms continue across central and southern Minnesota late this evening. These will continue working slowly eastward overnight, eventually reaching KRNH and KEAU. Brief IFR conditions are possible with any of the storms. Otherwise, expect VFR conditions and light southeast winds through the period. KMSP...On and off showers with a few thunderstorms expected for much of the overnight before diminishing around daybreak. /OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ FRI...VFR. CHC TSRA late. Winds S 5-10 kts. SAT...VFR. Winds NE 5 kts. SUN...VFR. CHC TSRA late. Winds SE 5-10 kts. && .MPX Watches/Warnings/Advisories... WI...None. MN...None. && UPDATE...BORGHOFF SHORT TERM...SPD LONG TERM...CLF AVIATION...BORGHOFF
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 345 PM CDT WED JUN 8 2016 MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028- 092045- 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- 345 PM CDT WED JUN 8 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MINNESOTA...EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA... SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA...SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST WISCONSIN AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED LATE TONIGHT. THE MAIN WEATHER HAZARD WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL, GUSTY WINDS AND SMALL HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN, AND ACROSS SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL MINNESOTA FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING. HEAT AND HUMIDITY WILL BUILD THURSDAY AND FRIDAY ACROSS THE REGION WITH HEAT INDICES OF 90 TO 95 DEGREES THURSDAY, AND 95 TO 100 DEGREES ON FRIDAY. THEREFORE...THE RISK FOR HEAT ILLNESS WILL INCREASE FOR PEOPLE OUTDOORS. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES INCREASE LATE IN THE WEEKEND AND EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE CHANCES OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE LOW AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
1046 PM CDT WED JUN 8 2016
MNZ057-058-090430-
MEEKER-KANDIYOHI-
1046 PM CDT WED JUN 8 2016
...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL AFFECT SOUTHWESTERN MEEKER AND
SOUTHEASTERN KANDIYOHI COUNTIES...
AT 1046 PM CDT...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR LAKE LILLIAN...
OR 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF WILLMAR...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
NICKEL SIZE HAIL IS POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
COSMOS...LAKE LILLIAN...THORPE AND SVEA.
FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM.
LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE 10 MILES AWAY FROM A THUNDERSTORM. SEEK A SAFE
SHELTER INSIDE A BUILDING OR VEHICLE.
LAT...LON 4512 9495 4499 9456 4489 9466 4489 9481
4499 9503
TIME...MOT...LOC 0346Z 295DEG 21KT 4501 9491
BORGHOFFSPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
100 AM CDT THU JUN 9 2016
MNZ067-076-090800-
SIBLEY-LE SUEUR-
100 AM CDT THU JUN 9 2016
...VERY HEAVY RAIN AND LOCALIZED MINOR FLOODING EXPECTED...
VERY HEAVY RAIN WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALIZED FLOODING WILL AFFECT
THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
SIBLEY...LE SUEUR...
AT 1258 AM CDT...VERY HEAVY RAIN WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALIZED
FLOODING WAS OVER LE SUEUR. RAINFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR
WILL CONTINUE OVER PORTIONS OF FAR EASTERN SIBLEY AND MOST OF LE
SUEUR COUNTIES THROUGH 3 AM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
LE SUEUR...MONTGOMERY...LE CENTER...KILKENNY...ST THOMAS...RUSH RIVER...ST
HENRY AND NEW ROME.
THIS INCLUDES U.S. HIGHWAY 169 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 76 AND 79.
EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL
CREEKS AND STREAMS...AS WELL AS FARM AND COUNTRY ROADS. DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL ACROSS FLOODED ROADS. FIND ALTERNATE ROUTES.
LAT...LON 4441 9395 4443 9393 4446 9394 4446 9407
4449 9415 4455 9409 4446 9381 4443 9353
4423 9353
TIME...MOT...LOC 0558Z 180DEG 0KT 4447 9396
JLTThe Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 5 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:59 UTC.
5 hail, 4 heavy rain, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A trained weather observer measured 3.60 inches of rainfall in less than 5 hours, two miles northeast of downtown Chaska.
A trained weather observer measured 2.73 inches of rain in less than 5 hours, south of the National Weather Service office in Chanhassen.
The National Weather Service Office in Chanhassen, measured 2.52 inches of rain in less than 4 hours.
A photo of a 1.25 diameter hail stone was shared via twitter in Chaska. There was an article in the local newspaper of 1 to 2 foot hail drifts at a local park.
Several large tree limbs were blown down in Chaska between Highways 41 and 101.
A trained weather observer measured 2.82 inches of rain in less than 4 hours near the junction of Highways 13 and 169 in Savage.
The public reported half dollar size hail near Burnsville. The hail stones damaged a vehicle.
A large swath of hail occurred in southern Wright County between Howard Lake and Watertown. The largest hail stone was measured at 2.5 inches (tennis ball) between Montrose and Watertown along Highway 25.
A large tree was blown down across Highway 25, between Montrose and Watertown.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, June 2016
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: 628370, 628371, 628373, 628362, 628363, 641116, 628372, 628366, 628365, 628368, 628364.