MINNEAPOLIS, MN — A tornado warning was issued south of Minneapolis St. Paul Wednesday afternoon after forecasters detected rotation in a storm near Stanton, northeast of Northfield, and tracked it east toward Cannon Falls, Welch and Red Wing. The National Weather Service said the storm could produce baseball-size hail as it moved through parts of Dakota, Goodhue and Pierce counties.
By early evening, both tornado warnings had expired, but a broader tornado watch remained in place for the Twin Cities region and much of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin through 9 p.m. CDT. The National Weather Service said several storms inside that watch area were already strong enough to prompt warnings before 4 p.m.
First tornado warning follows radar rotation near Stanton
The first warning came from the National Weather Service office in the Twin Cities at 4:53 p.m. CDT. It covered parts of Dakota and Goodhue counties in Minnesota and Pierce County in Wisconsin after radar showed rotation near Stanton.
Forecasters tracked the storm moving east as it crossed the area between Cannon Falls, Welch and Red Wing. At one point, the storm was considered capable of producing very large hail, adding to the threat already posed by the rotation.
The warning area sat just south of the core metro area, making it a close-in severe weather threat for communities that were already under a tornado watch. The storm did not keep the warning in place for long, but it was one of two tornado alerts issued across the region Wednesday.
Second warning in Pine County and Burnett County as storm races northeast
A second tornado warning was issued at 5:11 p.m. CDT by the National Weather Service office in Duluth. That warning covered southern Pine County in Minnesota and Burnett County in Wisconsin after another storm showed signs of tornado potential.
Forecasters said the storm moved northeast at 50 mph through Grantsburg and Webster. That fast pace made the warning area shift quickly, leaving little time for communities in its path to wait and see whether rotation would strengthen further.
Both tornado warnings were later allowed to expire. Even so, the Duluth office later listed a weak, brief rotation on the ground in Burnett County, giving the storm a confirmed but limited tornado report before the event wound down.
Brief tornado report near Danbury brings small debris but no damage
The Storm Prediction Center’s preliminary storm reports included one tornado report at 5:40 p.m. CDT about 3 miles southeast of Danbury in Burnett County, Wisconsin. According to the National Weather Service office in Duluth, a weak rotation briefly touched down over Love Lake.
The report said the spin lifted small branches, leaves and water as it passed, but no damage had been reported at that point. It was a short-lived ground contact, yet it was enough to confirm that at least one tornado formed within the broader severe weather setup.
That kind of brief, weak tornado can still matter to people in the immediate area because the wind field can change suddenly even when no major damage is left behind. It also showed that the afternoon storm environment was capable of producing more than just hail and strong gusts.
Forecasters say hail and wind remain major threats through early evening
The Storm Prediction Center said the watch area faced three main threats: a couple of tornadoes, scattered hail up to 1.5 inches, and isolated wind gusts up to 70 mph. The storms were expected to strengthen through the afternoon while continuing to move quickly northeast.
Forecasters said the tornado and hail risk depended on whether one or two supercells could hold together. They also warned that smaller clusters of storms could still bring damaging winds into the early evening, even if tornado potential lessened in some spots.
On the probabilities page, the Storm Prediction Center rated the odds of tornadoes, severe wind and severe hail as moderate. The chance of a strong tornado, meaning EF2 or greater, was listed as low, which suggested the setup was serious but not leaning toward the most extreme end of the scale.
Severe thunderstorm warnings spread from Mora to Le Center and Sartell
Before the tornado warnings, several storms inside the watch area had already triggered severe thunderstorm warnings by 4 p.m. CDT. One storm over Mora, about 25 miles north of Cambridge, was moving northeast at 40 mph and producing quarter-size hail, with the Duluth office saying it could drop half-dollar-size hail in central Pine County.
Farther south, a storm about 6 miles southeast of Le Center was moving northeast at 40 mph with 60 mph gusts and quarter-size hail. That warning included parts of Le Sueur and Rice counties until 4:30 p.m. Near St. Cloud, forecasters were also tracking a storm over Sartell with gusts up to 50 mph and half-inch hail.
Those warnings showed how widespread the instability was across Minnesota and western Wisconsin. The severe weather threat was not confined to one isolated cell, but was spread across multiple storms moving in the same general direction.
Watch area trimmed but still covers Twin Cities suburbs and western Wisconsin
By about 6:10 p.m. CDT, the National Weather Service trimmed the watch, but it still covered a wide swath of Minnesota and Wisconsin. In Minnesota, the watch included Anoka, Chisago, Dakota, Goodhue, Hennepin, Ramsey, Rice, Scott and Washington counties.
On the Wisconsin side, the watch remained in effect for Barron, Burnett, Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Rusk, Sawyer, St. Croix and Washburn counties. That kept cities such as Blaine, Shakopee, Stillwater, Hastings, Red Wing and Faribault in the alert area, along with Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Hudson, Menomonie and River Falls.
The National Weather Service said a watch means conditions are favorable for tornadoes and severe storms, while a warning is the one that calls for immediate action. Officials said the latest watches and warnings were being posted on weather.gov and through the Twin Cities and Duluth forecast offices.