It was a storm that appeared as if it would pack a punch in the Brainerd lakes area, but didn't.
Sgt. Brad Rittgers of the Cass County Sheriff's Office said he was preparing for the worst when he looked at the radar before the storm came in Sunday night, July 8.
"It looked like the southern part of (Cass) County was going to get hit badly," Rittgers said. "I was on the phone with some Fairview Township folks and East Gull Lake to get them ready, but it wasn't that bad, just a few trees down.
"They were forecasting some nasty stuff. I watched it build from Detroit Lakes, then it moved south and I thought it would go to Leader and blow up and hit the Gull Lake area again, but we were fortunate. We actually escaped it pretty well."
Rittgers said multiple trees down were down on Highway 87 west of Backus, on Cass County Highway 42 between Backus and Pine River and in Remer. A power line was also down on 87, but it didn't cause any fires.
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"There was nothing major and we didn't have to close any roads down," Rittgers said.
According to the National Weather Service in Duluth, .75-inch hail was reported 3 miles southwest of Backus and 1.75-inch hail in Boy River. A weather spotter reported .72 inches of rain fell in Brainerd and .48 inches at the Brainerd water plant. Cass Lake had .51 inches of rain, Pillager had .57 inches and Pine River had 1.04 inches.
The Brainerd area will likely get a short break on the storms, with rain not in the forecast until Wednesday. There's a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m. Showers and thunderstorms are likely Wednesday night, with a chance of precipitation at 60 percent, the NWS reported.
Highs are expected to continue in the upper 80s all week with mostly sunny to sunny skies Thursday and Friday. A chance of showers and thunderstorms are in the forecast again Saturday night through Monday.
