Thunderstorm Wind — Clearwater, Minnesota

2020-06-07 · near Berner, Clearwater, Minnesota

Event narrative

A few trees were snapped in a grove.

Wider weather episode

On June 7th, 500mb ridging had set up over eastern Minnesota into Wisconsin, with southwest flow over the Dakotas into northwest Minnesota. At the surface, by mid afternoon, a cold front had moved into central North Dakota, with a stationary boundary just to the east of the Red River Valley. It was hot and windy over eastern North Dakota into the Valley, with temperatures peaking in the upper 80s to upper 90s (Fargo set a record high of 99 degrees), and dew points in the 60s to low 70s. South winds were strong all day, gusting into the 45 mph range consistently. East of the Red River Valley, in northwest Minnesota, temperatures were cooler with lower wind speeds. By mid afternoon, thunderstorms flared up over northwest Minnesota. Through the rest of the late afternoon and evening, numerous severe storms occurred over eastern North Dakota into the Red River Valley, producing large hail, damaging winds, and even a tornado.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (47.9400, -95.5800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 897882. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.