A second distinct round of storms hit Northern Minnesota on Monday night, June 29, leaving a trail of downed trees and more power outages in its wake.
Storms fired up again after 11 p.m. and lasted through about 2 a.m. Tuesday, primarily from the Brainerd lakes area to the Iron Range and Arrowhead. Earlier Monday, a strong storm system prompted several warnings for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes as it marched from west to east.
The National Weather Service in Duluth said it received a lot of wind damage reports.
The strongest measured wind gust was 64 mph at the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport, just after 11 p.m.
It was around that time that a tree snapped in half and fell on the Pryzbylski’s house in Breezy Point, about 15 miles farther north.
“The wind picked up, and Dan said, ‘We better get the boys downstairs,'" Wendy Pryzbylski said, noting she thought it was strange because they'd experienced much stronger storms. "And two minutes later, it fell.”
The family spent the night at the nearby Breezy Point Resort because of concerns of an electrical fire. The tree punched two holes clear through the ceilings of their sons' bedrooms. Pryzbylski could hear the rain coming through.
She was still waiting for the tree guys to come at 3 p.m. Tuesday. They had said they’d be there at 1 p.m.
While at least eight tornado warnings were issued Monday between the weather service offices in Duluth and Grand Forks, North Dakota, no tornadoes are confirmed or suspected.
Lake Country Power said its crews had made significant progress in restoring power to 4,000 of its affected customers from the first round of storms when the second round came through the region.
Around 12,000 were without power across the Arrowhead after the second round, and about 5,600 were still without as of Tuesday afternoon.
The electric cooperative is seeking mutual aid from neighboring utilities and estimates a minimum of two days before full restoration of service, unless more severe weather happens.
Some large hail was in the mix, with golf ball-sized reported in the Barnum area.
Quite a bit of rain fell with the two systems, a mostly welcome development given much of north-central Minnesota remains in a severe drought.
A spotter in Brimson reported over 2.65 inches of rainfall, and nearly 2 inches fell in McGregor, Pillager and near the small Crow Wing County city of Trommald.
