Possible tornadoes and severe storms cause widespread damage Thursday evening

Severe storms swept across central Minnesota and western Wisconsin Thursday afternoon and evening. There were numerous reports of wind damage and even possible tornadoes.

Severe storms sweep across Minnesota again Thursday

Yet again, severe storms swept across east central Minnesota Thursday afternoon and evening into western Wisconsin. It was the result of the second cool front of the week colliding with a very warm, humid air mass.

We made it to 89 degrees in the Twin Cities ahead of the front. The storms spawned a line of storms that started to ‘bow out’ producing numerous strong, damaging wind gusts.

In addition there were possible tornadoes. Law enforcement reported a tornado 4 miles east of Isanti, Minnesota at 4:45 p.m. Thursday.

Our own meteorologist Mandy Thalhuber took these photos 4 miles east of Isanti of what looks to be potential tornado damage.

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Here’s what it looked like on radar just minutes afterwards. This was potentially what we call a “gustnado” which is a tornado that spins up on the leading edge of a straight lined wind burst or bow echo.

They are no less dangerous than a super cell driven tornado. Where the green and red meet just south of the warned polygon is called a “couplet” indicating winds moving in different directions.

There was another tornado spotted near River Falls, Wis., and Baldwin, Wis., around 6:10 p.m. Thursday evening.

Most Twin Cities metro residents would have seen a similar ‘arcus’ cloud to this. It’s also called a roll cloud or shelf cloud.

It forms in a wide area, like a bow, ahead of the cool, downdraft burst of air that causes damaging wind gusts. It works to push up more warm, humid air out ahead of it, feeding the entire storm complex.

For an additional thorough listing of preliminary storm reports visit this page on the National Weather Service website.