Severe Storms and Tornadoes- July 17, 2010

On July 17, 2010 a warm front extended eastward from an area of low pressure in northeast South Dakota to Wabasha. The low pressure area moved to the east to western Minnesota by evening. Unstable air surged northward out ahead of this low pressure area. Temperatures soared into the 90's and dew point temperatures climbed to the low 70's over southern Minnesota.

Scattered thunderstorms developed in the afternoon, some of which dropped golf ball sized hail in Stearns and Todd Counties, with a report of baseball sized hail at Cold Spring at 3:37pm. There was also some wind damage too with a wind gust of 81 mph measured by a storm chaser near the town of Buckman in Morrison County. In the evening hours, storms intensified and engulfed the central and northern Twin Cities Metro area between 7 and 10pm. There were multiple reports of wind damage due to straight line winds, along with some reports of funnel clouds and brief tornado touchdowns. Despite the number of severe storm reports in the Twin Cities metro area, most of the damage was minor and limited to tree branches. Scattered power outages were common in the northern suburbs.

click map for preliminary storm reports

National Weather Service Severe Weather Summaries

Rainfall Totals