Thunderstorm Wind — Lyon, Minnesota

2025-08-16 · near Cottonwood, Lyon, Minnesota

Event narrative

Thunderstorm wind gusts snapped off a cottonwood tree of 6 to 8 inches diameter at the base.

Wider weather episode

A weak wave lifting out of the central Rockies aided in initiation of a forward propagating Mesoscale Convective system from the lee of the Black Hills southward into the Nebraska Panhandle. With abundant MUCAPE up to nearly 4000 J/kg and DCAPE up to 1500 J/kg, but deep-layer shear only around 20-25 knots, storms retained a somewhat outflow dominant character while on an east-northeast trek. Winds were generally from 60 to 80 mph with significant damage to trees and a few structures along the track of the system north of Interstate 90 into southwest Minnesota.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.6100, -95.6700)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1290681. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.