A welcome dry stretch; update on flooding, July Fourth Bemidji tornado

It was great that most of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities metro area,  had dry weather for the fireworks last evening.

There were some showers in parts of southwestern and south-central Minnesota.

Bemidji tornado was an EF-1

Some trees were uprooted and a garage was lifted off of its foundation early Wednesday in Bemidji, Minn.:

The Grand Forks, N.D., office of the National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado occurred just west of Bemidji State University at around 6:18 a.m. on July Fourth.

Their public information statement has details of the NWS damage survey:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND

714 PM CDT WED JUL 4 2018

...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 07/04/18 TORNADO EVENT IN BEMIDJI

MINNESOTA...

.OVERVIEW...A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS MOVED QUICKLY EAST ACROSS

NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF JULY 4TH. THESE

STORMS PRODUCED SCATTERED BUT SIGNIFICANT WIND DAMAGE. ONE TORNADO

OCCURRED, WITH A RATING OF EF-1, IN THE CITY OF BEMIDJI JUST

PRIOR TO 630 AM CDT.

RATING: EF-1

ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 100 MPH

PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 0.7 MILES

PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 200 YARDS

FATALITIES: 0

INJURIES: 0

START DATE: JULY 04 2018

START TIME: 6:18 AM CDT

START LOCATION: NEAR 15TH ST NW & NORTON AVE NW

CITY OF BEMIDJI / BELTRAMI COUNTY MN

START LAT/LON: 47.4831 / -94.8934

END DATE: JULY 04 2018

END TIME: 6:19 AM CDT

END LOCATION: NEAR 19TH ST NE & BEMIDJI AVE

CITY OF BEMIDJI / BELTRAMI COUNTY MN

END LAT/LON: 47.8774 / -94.8797

THIS TORNADO OCCURRED WEST OF BEMIDJI STATE UNIVERSITY. ALONG ITS

PATH A GARAGE WAS LIFTED OFF ITS FOUNDATION, MANY ASH AND PINE

TREES WERE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED, SHINGLES AND ROOFS WERE DAMAGED,

AND PROJECTILES DAMAGED WINDOWS.

OTHER WIND DAMAGE OCCURRED OVER A WIDE AREA TO THE NORTH AND

SOUTH OF THE TORNADO PATH THROUGH MUCH OF BELTRAMI COUNTY

BETWEEN 6 AND 7 AM CDT.

EF SCALE: THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES INTO

THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES.

EF0...WEAK......65 TO 85 MPH

EF1...WEAK......86 TO 110 MPH

EF2...STRONG....111 TO 135 MPH

EF3...STRONG....136 TO 165 MPH

EF4...VIOLENT...166 TO 200 MPH

EF5...VIOLENT...>200 MPH*

NOTE:

THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO

CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT AND PUBLICATION IN

NWS STORM DATA.

Additional details about Wednesday morning storm damage in eastern North Dakota and northern Minnesota, plus the radar loop, have been posted by the NWS.

A press release from Beltrami County Emergency Management notes that there was also straight-line wind damage in Bemidji and that the tornado developed too quickly for warning sirens to be activated:

"STORMS AREN'T TAKING A HOLIDAY...

IT'S GETTING REALLY OLD!" -MULLER...

PRESS RELEASE – CONFIRMED TORNADO HITS BEMIDJI

JULY 4TH, 2018

The National Weather Service Office out of Grand Forks, North Dakota and Beltrami County Emergency Management conducted a damage assessment on the afternoon of July 4th, 2018 following damaging severe weather that impacted southern Beltrami County in the early morning hours on the 4th of July.

A concentrated area of damage was identified across Bemidji west of Bemidji State University. The hardest hit area was across the central part of the City of Bemidji along 18th Street NW from Delton Ave NW to Bemidji Ave N and was approximately 200 yards wide.

Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down. Several garages and lighter construction building sustained damage along with shingle damage to residential roofs. Reviewing the damage it has been determined that a tornado rated at EF1 with winds of 90-100MPH impacted the area.

There was additional damage observed to the west/southwest of Bemidji that was likely the result of strong straight-line winds. A retired Sheriff’s Deputy reported seeing a funnel cloud just west of Bemidji moments before the damage reports started to be received by the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office 911 Center.

The tornado was associated with a large complex of thunderstorms that were moving across northern Minnesota in the early morning hours of July 4th. While there were no active severe weather warnings for Beltrami County at the time, the National Weather Service did have the area under a “Significant Weather Advisory” as anticipated impacts were below severe weather criteria.

The tornado developed very quickly and there was little to no time for warning. Outdoor warning sirens and CodeRED were not utilized as the storm impacts had expired before activation could take place. The tornado hit at approximately 6:30AM.

There were no injuries as a result of these storms.

This was the fourth significant severe weather incident to impact Beltrami County in the last six days. Beltrami County remains in a State of Emergency due to impacts from severe weather last week where winds of 80-100MPH did significant damage in the central and northeastern part of the county.

The National Weather Service will be releasing additional information on this weather event.

Some needed dry weather 

Many parts of Minnesota have seen a lot of rain over the past week.

This rainfall map from the NWS Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service covers the seven-day period ending at 7 a.m. Thursday:

Portions of southwestern Minnesota have seen 6 to 8 inches of rain this past week, with the bulk of that rain falling early Tuesday morning.  There is one area of 5 to 8 inches of rain in northern Minnesota.

Mostly dry weather is expected across Minnesota through Saturday.  There's a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms Saturday night and Sunday in the north. Southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities metro area could see a few scattered showers and thunderstorms Sunday evening and Sunday night.

Flood warning update

The Twin Cities office of the NWS has flood warnings shaded green on their main page:

You can click on the map on the NWS site to get warning details.

Here is a sampling of current flood warnings:

National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN

344 PM CDT WED JUL 4 2018

MNC127-052115-

/O.EXT.KMPX.FA.W.0010.000000T0000Z-180705T2115Z/

/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

Redwood MN-

344 PM CDT WED JUL 4 2018

The National Weather Service in The Twin Cities has extended the

* Flood Warning for...

West central Redwood County in southwestern Minnesota...

* Until 415 PM CDT Thursday.

* At 330 PM CDT, several reports from law enforcement, river gauges

along the Redwood River, and observed flooding, the flood warning

will be extended through 4 PM CDT Thursday. The Redwood River from

Russell, downstream to Redwood Falls has fluctuated over the past

24 hours, with another crest likely from Russell, downstream to

Redwood Falls, in the next 24 to 48 hours.

* Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Vesta and Milroy.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Excessive runoff from heavy rainfall will cause flooding of small

creeks and streams, country roads, farmland, and other low lying

spots.

National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN

333 PM CDT WED JUL 4 2018

MNC015-127-052100-

/O.EXT.KMPX.FA.W.0009.000000T0000Z-180705T2100Z/

/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

Redwood MN-Brown MN-

333 PM CDT WED JUL 4 2018

The National Weather Service in The Twin Cities has extended the

* Flood Warning for...

Southern Redwood County in southwestern Minnesota...

Southwestern Brown County in south central Minnesota...

* Until 400 PM CDT Thursday.

* At 330 PM CDT, local law enforcement, river gauges, and observed

high water along many creeks, streams and rivers, the flood

warning has been extended until 4 PM CDT Thursday. The Cottonwood

River has not crested downstream from Lamberton to New Ulm.

However, based on a river gauge at Lamberton, the river has

crested at this point. In addition, a record flood crest is

expected at Springfield, along the Cottonwood River, on Thursday.

Any additional rainfall will likely alter the river levels through

tomorrow.

* Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Sleepy Eye, Springfield, Walnut Grove, Lamberton, Sanborn, Lucan,

Clements, Revere, Wanda and Cobden.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Excessive runoff from heavy rainfall will cause flooding of small

creeks and streams, country roads, farmland, and other low lying

spots.

Flood Statement

National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN

514 AM CDT Thu Jul 5 2018

...The flood warning continues for the following rivers in

Minnesota...

Cottonwood River at New Ulm affecting Brown County

Minnesota River at Henderson MN19 affecting Le Sueur...Scott and

Sibley Counties

Minnesota River near Jordan affecting Carver and Scott Counties

Minnesota River at Savage affecting Dakota...Hennepin and Scott

Counties

Redwood River near Redwood Falls affecting Redwood County

.Overview...

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Do not drive cars through flooded areas. Turn Around...Don`t Drown.

Stay tuned to NOAA Weather Radio or your local radio or TV station

for the latest information concerning this flood event.

You can also find graphical NWS updates on river levels for many spots around Minnesota throughout the day and night.

If the location of interest is not listed there, try the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service page and click on a location for river level details and forecasts.

The latest hydrograph for the Cottonwood River at New Ulm, Minn., shows that it has risen almost five feet in the past two days and it is expected to rise about another 3.5 feet by late Thursday night:

Temperature trends

The Twin Cities metro area and southeastern Minnesota should see highs in the lower 80s this afternoon. 70s will be common elsewhere in Minnesota.

Highs on Friday will be in the upper 70s to the north and lower 80 south:

Mid to upper 80s are expected over most of Minnesota this coming weekend.

Updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network, and updates are also posted on the MPR News live weather blog.