During the afternoon and evening of Tuesday, July 26th, a cold front moved southward across central and southern Minnesota. A line of storms developed and moved southeast across Minnesota and produced a wind gust of 44 mph at the Hutchinson airport.
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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.
During the afternoon and evening of Tuesday, July 26th, a cold front moved southward across central and southern Minnesota. A line of storms developed and moved southeast across Minnesota and produced a wind gust of 44 mph at the Hutchinson airport. Also, property was damaged at two farms east of Hutchinson, and trees were also damaged farther east. Both instability and effective wind shear along the front was ample enough to generate organized strong storms, but not enough for severe storms.
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 Jul 26, 5:12 PM CST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN 612 PM CDT Tue Jul 26 2022 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Wednesday night) Issued at 215 PM CDT Tue Jul 26 2022 A cluster of showers and an embedded thunderstorm over east-central MN will continue its trek east this afternoon. While this precip hasn't been too impressive, the AXN ASOS did record 0.26" of rain thru 18z. Additionally, the STC ASOS was reporting 1/2 mile visibility from heavy rain and fog around 1pm. The activity will weaken with time as it travels into western WI. However, additional showers and thunderstorms are likely to develop across MN later this afternoon as a cold front advances. Stronger convection is favored in south-central and southern MN where earlier precip hasn't affected surface temperatures, allowing SBCAPE to grow to near 2000 J/kg. While bulk wind shear is questionable (30-35 knots), CAMs do hint the development of semi-organized small bowing segments as the storms travel southeast. Thus, one or two severe wind gusts and heavy downpours are possible with these storms before they exit to our southeast near midnight. Precip amounts won't be great but areas that do see storms could receive another quarter to half an inch. Skies should become clearer from west to east overnight after the cold frontal passage. Incoming northwest flow and drier air will also make the humidity feel very comfortable. Overnight lows will drop into the upper 50s to lower 60s tonight and 50s Wednesday night. Wednesday, itself, should be pleasant as highs in the upper 70s to lower 80s are expected. Northwesterly winds may get a little breezy during the afternoon with gusts to near 20 knots. Also, did decide to keep slight chance PoPs across our area Wednesday afternoon as post-frontal showers appear possible beneath the cyclonic flow of an upper-level low. However, any precip should be isolated an not put an entire damper on Wednesday's otherwise nice weather. .LONG TERM...(Thursday through Tuesday) Issued at 215 PM CDT Tue Jul 26 2022 KEY MESSAGE: - Heat and humidity return this weekend. The upper low that has been affecting our weather will continue to slowly move off to the east on Thursday, as surface Canadian high pressure begins to slide into the Dakotas. With cyclonic flow aloft, there could be some isolated and inconsequential showers/sprinkles during the afternoon, with the better chance expected to be in northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. With the cool dry air filtering into the region Thursday will be quite pleasant heat and humidity wise with highs in the 70s and dewpoints mainly in the lower 50s. On Friday, high pressure will drift across the area, offering another very pleasant day with high temperatures once again in the mid 70s to near 80 and dewpoints similar to Thursday's. High pressure moves off to the southeast this weekend and as the return flow increases we will see temperature and humidity levels rise. The next chance for precipitation comes on Sunday/Sunday night with the passage of a trough and associated cold front. The blended forecast has small PoPs during the day on Sunday, but at this point it looks like the better chance for accumulating precipitation comes Sunday night. The heat and humidity continue to build early next week, with highs in the 90s and dewpoints in the 60s to near 70 possibly returning to the area. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Wednesday evening) Issued at 611 PM CDT Tue Jul 26 2022 Broken line of storms across western MN will progress southeastward this evening and should impact all TAF sites, except maybe EAU. Brief heavy rainfall and wind shift to the northwest can be expected with the storms/front. There is a low chance for additional development Wednesday, but the potential is too low to mention in the TAFs attm. KMSP...The back edge of the storms should be pushing through around 04Z. Additional cells could develop ahead of the main line, so maintained a 3 hour TEMPO prior to the back edge coming through. /OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ Thu...VFR. Wind NW 10-15 kts. Fri...VFR. Light NW wind bcmg SW. Sat...VFR. Wind S 5-10 kts. && .MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...None. WI...None. && SHORT TERM...CTG LONG TERM...CEO AVIATION...Borghoff
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN 252 PM CDT Tue Jul 26 2022 MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028- 272000- 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- 252 PM CDT Tue Jul 26 2022 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of central and southern Minnesota, and west central Wisconsin. .DAY ONE...Tonight. Scattered thunderstorms are expected this evening. A few storms will be capable of producing brief strong wind gusts and heavy downpours. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN spotter activation will not be needed.
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:56 UTC.
2 funnel cloud, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The local fire department reported a funnel cloud northwest of Silver Lake. This was also confirmed by a trained spotter.
There was a 1.5 mile wide north to south swath of wind damage that extended from Nobles Avenue and 177th Street to the 16500 block of O'Day Avenue. The damage area spread eastward for about one mile. A grain bin was blown over, landing on a propane tank. Much of the roof of a large machine shed was blown off and a large door was collapsed inward. Dozens of trees were broken or large branches were downed, and some corn was flattened.
Several spotters and fire department members reported a funnel cloud southwest of Winsted, near Highway 7 and County Road 15 (Falcon Ave). The funnel was photographed by at least two people, and caught on video (with time stamp) by one spotter. There was a second hand report of it briefly touching down, with two power poles leaning, but upon further investigation, none of the spotters or fire department members could confirm ground contact, nor was the power pole damage able to be confirmed. Satellite imagery was checked but that did not show any apparent tracks. Therefore this was listed as a funnel cloud.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, July 2022
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: 1033386, 1033388, 1033385.