Dense Fog in Minnesota, September 15, 2017

Name: Dense Fog in Minnesota, September 15, 2017
Start: 2017-09-15T14:00
End: 2017-09-15T14:00
Location: Minnesota

September 15, 2017 · NWS DLH · 1 event in 1 county or zone

An elderly woman drowned when she drove into Island Lake after missing a curve in dense fog.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 DLH wrote it up.

An elderly woman drowned when she drove into Island Lake after missing a curve in dense fog.

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 Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 15, 12:25 PM CST, 1 hour 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 15, 12:25 PM CST, 1 hour 35 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 15, 3:16 AM CST, 10 hours 44 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 15, 12:04 PM CST, 1 hour 56 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Sep 15, 12:12 PM CST, 1 hour 48 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Sep 15, 12:36 PM CST, 1 hour 24 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Sep 15, 12:56 PM CST, 1 hour 4 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Sep 15, 1:19 PM CST, 41 minutes before

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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.

Dense Fog, Southern St. Louis / Carlton

When: September 15, 2:00 PM CST
Where: Southern St. Louis / Carlton forecast zone
Deaths: 0 direct, 1 indirect
Reported by: Law Enforcement
Coordinates: 47.091, -92.569 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Dense fog developed across St. Louis County during the afternoon. The AWOS station at the Duluth International airport reporting visibility ranging from one-eighth of a mile to a quarter of a mile during the time the woman was supposedly driving back home. She missed a curve due to the foggy conditions and drove into Island Lake where her body was eventually recovered.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Dense Fog, Southern St. Louis / Carlton	2017-09-15	79	Female	In Water	Indirect

What these are

Dense Fog: Fog reducing visibility to a quarter mile or less, filed where it caused accidents or disruption.

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 Warnings in Minnesota, September 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: 714276.