Hail in Burnett County, Wisconsin

A cold front moved through north-central Minnesota in the late afternoon hours on Thursday, September 19, 2024. Out ahead of the cold front in northeast Minnesota, discrete severe thunderstorms began to form in far northeast Minnesota along the US Hwy 53 corridor around 4 PM CT. The first Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued at 4:15 PM for parts of far northeast St. Louis County and northwest Lake County as the severe storm moved northeastward around 30 mph. By 4:55 PM, conditions within a different severe supercell thunderstorm warranted the first Tornado Warning of the evening to be issued for central St. Louis County around the communities of Cotton and Canyon, MN. Between 5 and 5:30 PM that evening, multiple additional Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Warnings were issued along and east of US Hwy 53 and along the I-35 corridor into east- central Minnesota. The cold front continued to move eastward through the early evening hours on the 20th, with storms beginning to enter Douglas and Burnett Counties in northwest Wisconsin towards 6 PM as low-level funnel clouds were reported by law enforcement and trained weather spotters. Hail up to 1.5 inches in diameter was reported from the strongest thunderstorms, but in very localized reports. As the air mass began to cool and stabilized in the mid-evening hours, the threat for additional tornadoes began to wane and the strongest thunderstorms were limited to the Twin Ports and across northwest Wisconsin. As the cold front entered northwest Wisconsin by late evening, activity subsided to only showers and general thunderstorms with no additional impacts reported overnight. In total, eight Tornado Warnings, nine Severe Thunderstorms Warnings and two Special Marine Warnings were issued for this severe weather event.