A hot, muggy Sunday afternoon fueled violent storms across central Minnesota, including a tornado.
The National Weather Service noted there were widespread reports of wind and wind damage, hail and heavy rain from Hackensack and Hillman to Wisconsin.
A tornado was reported just after 6 p.m. Sunday in Benton County, 2 miles west of Granite Ledge.
The tornado, an F0 with a wind speed of 75 mph, tracked northeast for 5.8 miles before dissipating in Morrison County at 6:02 p.m.
"Narrow tree damage and minor structural damage," was reported along the tornado's path, according to the weather service. The path's maximum width was 150 yards.
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The storm produced hail, 1 iinch in diameter, near Hackensack along with heavy rain of .92 inches. Even larger hail, of 1.75 inches, was reported 5 miles east of Brainerd and 2-inch hail reported 7 miles south of Hillman.
In addition to the tornado, there were reports of funnel clouds about 6 p.m. near Rice and Gilman, southeast of Little Falls.
Wind and wind damage followed a diagonal line across extreme southeastern Minnesota into Wisconsin. Heavy rains hit the Duluth area and Wisconsin with nearly 2 inches near Duluth and 5.5 inches in Bayfield County, Wisconsin.
In Brainerd Sunday afternoon the temperature climbed to 83 with a heat index of 87 just before 4 p.m. Ominously dark clouds with rumbling thunder skirted the city as storm cells moved to the northeast. The temperature quickly dropped 10 degrees. Brainerd received 1.33 inches of rain early in the morning Sunday but nothing from the afternoon storms.
