No severe damage from area storms

Strong thunderstorms Saturday rolled across much of Minnesota, bringing heavy rain, hail the size of baseballs and strong wind gusts up to 80 mph in some places.

The most severe weather came south of the Brainerd area, according to National Weather Service storm reports.

At 7 p.m. Saturday, a trained spotter reported a tornado on the ground one mile south of Cushing, though Morrison County Sheriff's deputies were unable to confirm the report. A storm chaser two miles south of Buckman reported wind gusts at 81 mph. Seven miles south of Hillman, a trained spotter reported that more than 3 inches of rain and more than 2 inches of hail fell in a half hour.

In Motley, the weather service reported many trees down, power out and shingles blown off roofs.

Though trees, power lines and minor damage to property was reported, the Morrison County Sheriff's Department received no reports of major damage.

The Todd County Sheriff's Department reported that at about 12:45 p.m. Saturday the county was hit by high winds and hail. There also were reports of a tornado funnel forming, the Todd County sheriff's department reported, but no touchdown was verified. There also were reports of wind damage to residences, hail in size from peas to baseballs causing major damage to crops, numerous trees down and some areas without power.

In Staples, there were reports of 2.75-inch diameter hail and numerous trees down. In Little Falls, there were reports of 1.75-inch hail, and in Motley, 1-inch hail.

In Fort Ripley, trained spotters reported .75-inch hail, two large oak trees blown down and other small trees damaged. In Ironton, there were reports of 1-inch hail.

The weather service also received reports of .88-inch hail in Pine River and .50-inch hail on Leech lake, in Walker and near Brainerd.

Steve Gohde, observing program leader at the National Weather Service in Duluth, said based on radar estimates, as much as 2.25 inches of rain fell in some places in the Brainerd area.

"It was pretty heavy," Gohde said. "There are a lot of reports that some of the clouds were towering quite high.

"There's a lot of instability when (clouds) are rising super high. We were getting to about 65,000 feet. It's pretty impressive for a thunderstorm to have such an updraft to carry such large chunks of ice."

While there's a slight chance of rain, about 20 percent, for the start of the week, Gohde said there's a potential for another strong system to build in the area toward the end of the week.

"That's one we're keeping an eye on," Gohde said.

About 15,000 Twin Cities households are still without power following severe storms, and an Xcel Energy spokeswoman said some might not have it back until Tuesday morning.

The Star Tribune reported that about 80,000 metro area customers lost power after severe storms moved through the area Saturday night. By Sunday, spokeswoman Mary Sandok said most of those homes had power restored but that restoration had slowed as crews moved from major feeders to individual homes where damage occurred.

(This story contains information from the Associated Press)

MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.