Power Outage in Alexandria, MN

A few power poles were blown down east of Millerville.

Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across a large part of southwest and south central Douglas County.

Numerous large trees and power lines were blown down from near Holmes City, to Forada, Minnesota.

Several trees and power lines were blown down near Hudson Township.

Large tree limb down across power line.

Few trees down across power lines.

During the late morning, and early afternoon of Friday, July 19th, a surface low moved from northeast South Dakota, eastward across central Minnesota, and into west central Wisconsin by the evening. There was a tight thermal gradient along the surface low/warm front across central Minnesota. During the afternoon, dew points rose to near 80 in the warm sector, with 50s/60s north of the front. This contrast produced MLCAPEs of near 5000 J/kg south of the front boundary. Effective wind shear parameters were very strong with values of 50-70 knots across central Minnesota, and into west central Wisconsin by the late afternoon. This environment allowed for supercells to form which congealed into a bow echo that raced across east central Minnesota, and into west central Wisconsin. Very large hail, damaging straight-line winds, and a few tornadoes occurred with this bow echo. ||There was almost a continuous swath of large hail, measured up to golf ball size, that fell from Stevens County, northeast through Pope, Douglas, and Todd Counties before 1230 CST. Damage occurred to cars, windows, and crops along the storm's path. Another severe storm developed west of Todd County, and moved across northern Todd County, and into Morrison County. There were numerous reports of large hail once again with the largest report of baseball size hail near Cushing. There were also reports of trees and power lines down across central and southwest Morrison County. ||Most of the damage in Mille Lacs, and Kanabec Counties was associated with straight line winds, but there were a couple reports of large hail. The bow echo intensified as it moved across Kanabec County, into southern Pine and northern Chisago Counties. ||The worst damage occurred from near Rush City, southeast into west central Wisconsin. The Chisago County fair had to be closed due to trees and power lines that were blown down throughout the fair grounds.

Scattered thunderstorms developed across South Dakota during the evening of Friday, June 29th. These storms moved across central Minnesota, between Alexandria, Little Falls, and Mora, and produced severe wind gusts, with isolated tree and power line damage.

There were several reports of trees and branches that were blown down, which turned out to be associated with tornadoes and associated rear flank downdraft winds. Carlos Creek Winery was among the areas hit. The storm also produced large hail and heavy rain, including 3.2 inches of rainfall near Brandon. Power outages also occurred. At the height of the storm, about 950 Runestone Electric Association members were without electricity.

Several thunderstorm complexes that developed across North Dakota and northern South Dakota, congealed across southeast North Dakota and bowed out across Stevens, and Douglas counties causing some tree damage. Most of the winds were non-severe or gusting between 40 and 50 mph as this complex moved southeast across central and southern Minnesota, but some trees and power lines were knocked down. It eventually moved into Iowa after sunrise, but occasional heavy rainfall and some small hail accompanied the stronger storms.