Tornado and Hail in Minnesota, June 9 to 10, 2017

Name: Tornado and Hail in Minnesota, June 9 to 10, 2017
Start: 2017-06-09T18:24
End: 2017-06-10T01:11
Location: Minnesota

June 9 to 10, 2017 · NWS FGF · 12 events in 6 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $850,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 12

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS FGF wrote it up.

During the day of June 9th, temperatures over eastern North Dakota and the northwest quarter of Minnesota topped out in the upper 70s along the Canadian border to lower 90s along the North Dakota/South Dakota border. Mid level temperatures were very warm over the central Dakotas, helping to suppress convective development until early evening. By that point, thunderstorms broke out over southern Manitoba down through central North Dakota, mainly along a cold front. These storms tracked east-southeast, mainly covering the Devils Lake region, down through the central Red River Valley, and into the Mahnomen to Hubbard county corridor. A mix of tornadoes, hail, and strong winds were reported.

What forecasters said that day

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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 9, 6:00 PM CST, 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 9, 6:00 PM CST, 24 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Grand Forks ND
700 PM CDT Fri Jun 9 2017

.UPDATE...
Issued at 658 PM CDT Fri Jun 9 2017

No changes other than tweeks to current wx. Severe weather threat
continues in watch box...several right movers...one in Cavalier
county and watching severe storms from Rugby area move east.

&&

.SHORT TERM...(This evening through Saturday)
Issued at 321 PM CDT Fri Jun 9 2017

Severe thunderstorm chances tonight will be the main challenge
for the period.

Water vapor loop shows upper ridging into the Northern Plains,
starting to transition over to southwesterly flow aloft as a large
trough digs into the Pacific Northwest. Main shortwave with the
upper trough is lifting north into Canada, but sat loops show
signs of another weaker shortwave lifting northeastward from WY.
Surface low pressure is centered over western ND, with some
cumulus starting to get going on the east side of it along the
Missouri Valley. So far the SPC mesoanalysis page shows surface
and mixed layer instability to still be well capped, with some
elevated showers and storms moving across our northern counties
and southern Canada. Think the cap will start to dissipate in the
next few hours, and CAMs show some stronger storms developing
across north central ND near the Canadian border around the 23 to
00Z time frame. Still some variation as to how far south these
storms build, but with the strong cap think that most of the early
activity will be along and north of highway 2. Deep layer bulk
shear is around 40-50 kts, and with winds backing in the lower
levels some supercells will be possible with the first round of
convection. The SPC storm scale ensemble of opportunity has some
20-30 percent probabilities of over 100 m2/s2 updraft helicity, so
think rotating storms are probable. Dew point depressions are
rather high and LCL heights will not be super favorable for
tornadoes, but they cannot be completely ruled out and very large
hail will be possible.

After that first round moves east during the late evening, many of the
high resolution models bring a second round in from the west after
midnight with the cold front. Some of the models have pretty
strong cells arriving during the 08Z to 13Z time frame early
tomorrow morning, and there will still be around 2500 J/kg of MU
CAPE along with 40 to 50 kts of deep layer bulk shear. So a second
round of severe is possible late tonight into early morning. There
is still a lot of uncertainty as to where exactly the second round
will track, but highest shear and instability values are mostly
north of the I-94 corridor.

Tomorrow, after the second round of convection blows through there
will be a few lingering showers or storms mainly across the
north, but otherwise a bit more cool and quiet on the backside of
the surface trough axis. Temps will be knocked back a few degrees
but will still be fairly warm in the 80s to low 90s except in the
far north where more clouds and precip will be hanging around.

.LONG TERM...(Saturday night through Friday)
Issued at 321 PM CDT Fri Jun 9 2017

Sunday and Monday...Southwesterly flow aloft will keep things
fairly active across the region, but models are in pretty good
agreement on the next shortwave remaining mostly to our south over
SD into central MN. The southern counties could see some storms
from this shortwave late Saturday night into Sunday, but the best
instability will be well to our south. Will continue to keep high
chance POPs going but will leave out any mention of severe. Sunday
night should remain fairly quiet but another shortwave approaching
from the southwest late Monday could bring some precip over our
far south by late afternoon. Temperatures for the end of the
weekend and early next week will be near to slightly above
seasonal averages.

Tuesday through Friday...The active pattern will continue for at
least the first half of the upcoming week. Tue will feature an
upper low lurking over the Northern Rockies with the northern
plains in southwest flow sandwiched between this low and an upper
midwest ridge. At the surface, strong low pressure complex will
likely move right through the forecast area during the day Tue
with a warm and cold frontal boundary providing opportunities for
convective activity. Wed would feature more of a cold pool setup
as stacked system heads toward western Ontario. Thu and Fri have
the best chance for dry weather for most if not all of this time
frame.

The above average temperatures will continue on Tue and Wed before
dropping back into the more average 70s on Thu/Fri.

&&

.AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Saturday evening)
Issued at 658 PM CDT Fri Jun 9 2017

VFR outside of thunderstorms where vsby/wind/cigs will be highly
variable.  Best risk of strong storms this eve  DVL, GFK.

&&

.FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ND...None.
MN...None.
&&

UPDATE...Riddle
SHORT TERM...JR
LONG TERM...JR/WJB
AVIATION...Riddle

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 9, 11:25 AM CST, 6 hours 59 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Grand Forks ND
1225 PM CDT Fri Jun 9 2017

MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-101300-
West Polk-Norman-Clay-Kittson-Roseau-Lake Of The Woods-
West Marshall-East Marshall-North Beltrami-Pennington-Red Lake-
East Polk-North Clearwater-South Beltrami-Mahnomen-
South Clearwater-Hubbard-West Becker-East Becker-Wilkin-
West Otter Tail-East Otter Tail-Wadena-Grant-Towner-Cavalier-
Pembina-Benson-Ramsey-Eastern Walsh County-Eddy-Nelson-
Grand Forks-Griggs-Steele-Traill-Barnes-Cass-Ransom-Sargent-
Richland-Western Walsh County-
1225 PM CDT Fri Jun 9 2017

This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of eastern North
Dakota, west central and northwest Minnesota.

.DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight

Two rounds of severe storms are possible. The first round will be
this evening with scattered severe storms along and north of
highway 2. Significant hail greater than 2 inches is the main
threat, along with damaging wind up to 75 mph, an isolated
tornado, and excessive rainfall.

Round 2 is less certain, but confidence is increasing for activity
to move into eastern North Dakota sometime after 4am. The risk
area for this round is anywhere along and north of Interstate 94.
The main threat will be damaging winds, potentially greater than
75 mph.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday

Periods of thunderstorms are possible throughout this period. The
best chance for widespread convective activity and severe storms
is Monday night into Tuesday.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation is expected this evening, and potentially again
during the early Saturday morning hours.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 9, 5:06 PM CST, 1 hour 18 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
606 PM CDT FRI JUN 09 2017

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0601 PM     HAIL             3 W ESMOND              48.03N 99.83W
06/09/2017  E0.88 INCH       BENSON             ND   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

GGUST

Local storm report, Jun 9, 5:43 PM CST, 41 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
643 PM CDT FRI JUN 09 2017

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0637 PM     TSTM WND GST     1 E LANGDON             48.76N 98.35W
06/09/2017  M66 MPH          CAVALIER           ND   MESONET

            PEAK WIND MEASURED AT THE NDAWN STATION EAST OF TOWN.

&&

GGUST

Local storm report, Jun 9, 6:04 PM CST, 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
704 PM CDT FRI JUN 09 2017

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0652 PM     HAIL             1 NW OLGA               48.81N 98.05W
06/09/2017  E1.00 INCH       CAVALIER           ND   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

GGUST

Local storm report, Jun 9, 6:05 PM CST, 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
705 PM CDT FRI JUN 09 2017

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0702 PM     HAIL             CONCRETE                48.75N 97.93W
06/09/2017  E1.00 INCH       PEMBINA            ND   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

GGUST

Local storm report, Jun 9, 6:10 PM CST, 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
710 PM CDT FRI JUN 09 2017

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0545 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     SARLES                  48.95N 99.00W
06/09/2017                   CAVALIER           ND   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            FUNNEL REPORTED BY BORDER PATROL SARLES STATION

&&

DRIDDLE

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:23 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

9 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Clay

When: June 9, 6:24 PM CST
Where: Clay County, 1.98 mi SW of Downer
Measured: 1.25 in hail
Reported by: Storm Chaser
Coordinates: 46.730, -96.510

Thunderstorm Wind, Marshall

When: June 9, 8:20 PM CST
Where: Marshall County, 0.69 mi S of Newfolden
Measured: 65 kt (75 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 48.360, -96.330

Trees were blown down.

Hail, Clay

When: June 9, 11:20 PM CST
Where: Clay County, 0.47 mi E of Ulen
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 47.080, -96.260

Hail, Becker

When: June 9, 11:50 PM CST to June 10, 12:10 AM CST
Where: Becker County, 1.41 mi E of White Earth
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 47.100, -95.840

Hail, Mahnomen

When: June 10, 12:14 AM CST
Where: Mahnomen County, 3.58 mi SSW of Naytahwaush
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 47.220, -95.650

The hail fell at the Elk Horn Resort on South Twin Lake.

Hail, Mahnomen

When: June 10, 12:15 AM CST
Where: Mahnomen County, 8.41 mi S of Naytahwaush
Measured: 1.25 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 47.150, -95.600

Hail, Clearwater

When: June 10, 12:20 AM CST
Where: Clearwater County, 9.18 mi SSW of Zerkel
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 47.190, -95.420

Hail, Clearwater

When: June 10, 12:45 AM CST
Where: Clearwater County, 2.8 mi S of Lake Itasca
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Property damage: $500,000
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 47.210, -95.210

The hail fell at Itasca State Park and was reported via social media.

Hail, Hubbard

When: June 10, 12:50 AM CST
Where: Hubbard County, 6.7 mi WSW of Lake George
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 47.160, -95.130

Hail, Hubbard

When: June 10, 1:00 AM CST
Where: Hubbard County, 4.86 mi S of Lake George
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 47.130, -94.990

The hail started as dime to nickel size.

Thunderstorm Wind, Hubbard

When: June 10, 1:08 AM CST
Where: Hubbard County, Benedict
Measured: 83 kt (96 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $200,000
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 47.170, -94.700

Numerous trees were blown down around Kabekona Lake and across southern Lakeport Township. Peak winds were estimated from 85 to 95 mph.

Tornado, Hubbard

When: June 10, 1:10 AM CST to 1:11 AM CST
Where: Hubbard County, 0.84 mi NE of Benedict to 1.39 mi NE of Benedict
Rating: EF1
Path length: 0.6 mi
Path width: 150 yd
Property damage: $150,000
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 47.180, -94.690

A weak tornado tracked to the northeast through a tree line and farmstead. The tornado snapped or uprooted numerous oak and pine trees, blew in part of a wall on a barn, and tore the roof off of a pole shed. Peak winds were estimated at 105 mph.

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Minnesota in 2017 Every state in 2017 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Minnesota, 2017 Warnings in Minnesota, June 2017

Sources

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: 696898, 696899, 696900, 696901, 696902, 696903, 696904, 696907, 696908, 696909, 696910, 696919.