Heavy Rains and Severe Storms: June 21, 2011
Estimated Precipitation for the 24-hour period ending 7:00am June 22, 2011
Courtesy: National Weather Service
A high precipitation, low pressure system caused intense rainfall during the evening commute Tuesday in St. Cloud. The localized rain event doused the west side of St. Cloud and Waite Park leaving the east side and Sauk Rapids with a light shower. At St. Cloud State University, 2.33 inches were recorded between 4 and 5pm (Robert Weisman, SCSU Meteorologist), while the official report from the St. Cloud Airport, measured only 0.35 inch between 4 and 7pm.
The estimated precipitation map from the National Weather Service shows the line between the east and west sides of St. Cloud and its suburbs.
The intensity and short time period of the rainfall, caused some low-lying streets in St. Cloud to flood very rapidly which stalled vehicles of some commuters and residents of the area and created difficult driving conditions throughout the effected area. Police diverted traffic around the worst flooded streets until the storm drains were able to catch up with the rainfall.
In addition to the heavy rains, numerous funnel clouds were reported over east central Minnesota, including a tornado touchdown from Blane to Coon Rapids in Anoka County.
-climatology intern Anna Louks assisted with this report.
National Weather Service Storm Summaries
Listed below are Local Storm Reports from the National Weather Service.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
746 PM CDT WED JUN 22 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0137 PM FUNNEL CLOUD 1 S HUTCHINSON 44.87N 94.37W
06/21/2011 MCLEOD MN TRAINED SPOTTER
0156 PM FUNNEL CLOUD HAMPTON 44.61N 93.00W
06/21/2011 DAKOTA MN FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
AT HWY 52 AND COUNTY ROAD 50
0212 PM HEAVY RAIN NNE GRANITE FALLS 44.82N 95.53W
06/21/2011 M1.25 INCH CHIPPEWA MN TRAINED SPOTTER
0230 PM FUNNEL CLOUD 5 W WILLMAR 45.12N 95.15W
06/21/2011 KANDIYOHI MN TRAINED SPOTTER
NOW DISSIPATED
0312 PM TORNADO 3 SW BLAINE 45.13N 93.24W
06/21/2011 ANOKA MN NWS STORM SURVEY
AN NWS STORM DAMAGE SURVEY TEAM DETERMINED AN EF-0
TORNADO TRACKED FROM NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF U.S.
HIGHWAY 10 AND CENTRAL AVENUE IN BLAINE...TO THE
NORTHWEST FOR APPROXIMATELY FIVE AND A HALF
MILES...ENDING ONE HALF MILE NORTHWEST OF THE
INTERSECTION OF COUNTY HIGHWAY 14 AND HANSON BOULEVARD IN
FAR NORTHERN COON RAPIDS. THE DAMAGE WAS ALMOST ENTIRELY
UPROOTED TREES...ON THREE OCCASIONS HAVING FALLEN ON
HOUSES. THE START TIME IS AN APPROXIMATION AND MAY VARY
BY A FEW MINUTES.
0317 PM FUNNEL CLOUD BLAINE 45.17N 93.21W
06/21/2011 ANOKA MN EMERGENCY MNGR
AT HWY 65 AND HWY 10.
0329 PM FUNNEL CLOUD ANDOVER 45.26N 93.33W
06/21/2011 ANOKA MN LAW ENFORCEMENT
AT THE INTERSECTION OF BUNKER LAKE AND HANSON BLVD.
0408 PM HEAVY RAIN 2 S HASTY 45.35N 93.97W
06/21/2011 M2.00 INCH WRIGHT MN TRAINED SPOTTER
REPORTED TO HAVE FALLEN IN 12 MINUTES.
0505 PM FLASH FLOOD ST CLOUD 45.55N 94.17W
06/21/2011 STEARNS MN LAW ENFORCEMENT
DELAYED REPORT. HEAVY RAIN ACROSS DOWNTOWN ST. CLOUD LED
TO WATER HALF WAY UP VECHILES CAUSING 20 TO 30 TO BE
STRANDED IN THE WATER. PEOPLE HELPED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT
OUT OF THE VEHICLES.