Late this afternoon, a single strong thunderstorm popped up near the warm front stretched across northeast Minnesota.
This cell first appeared around 4:30 PM today near Hill City, Minnesota, before moving east-northeast. The storm hit peak intensity between about 6:00 and 6:45 PM, with cloud tops reaching around 40,000 feet and a few reports of hail from areas near Payne to Shaw, MN.
Late this afternoon, a storm produced one report of severe hail measuring 1 inch in diameter, about the size of a quarter, 5 miles east of Shaw, Minnesota. This occurred despite no severe thunderstorm warning from the National Weather Service, while other hail reports were all sub-severe.
Local Storm Reports for Sunday, April 12, 2026
- 6:05 PM – Hail 0.70 inch. 3 E Payne, MN (St. Louis County)
- 6:16 PM – Hail 0.50 inch. 3 N Shaw, MN (St. Louis County)
- 6:19 PM – Hail 1.00 inch (quarter size). 5 E Shaw, MN (St. Louis County)
- 6:25 PM – Hail 0.50 inch. 9 NNE Island Lake, MN (St. Louis County)
Notice the brighter, colder cloud tops that erupted south of Hibbing and northwest of Duluth late this afternoon—that’s the thunderstorm forming, as captured on satellite imagery. Pretty cool.
Goes-19 infrared satellite loop from Sunday afternoon, April 12, 2026.
Rainfall reports from Saturday through Sunday afternoon, April 11–12, 2026.
Hog Creek, MN: 0.47″
Isabella, MN: 0.35″
Glidden, WI: 0.31″
Hayward, WI: 0.30″
Duluth Airport: 0.23″
Solon Springs, WI: 0.21″
Ashland, WI: 0.20″
Clam Lake, WI: 0.20″
Hinckley, MN: 0.19″
International Falls, MN: 0.18″
Grand Rapids, MN: 0.18″
McGregor, MN: 0.16″
Ely, MN: 0.11″
Hibbing, MN: 0.10″
Moose Lake, MN: 0.06″
Cook, MN: 0.04″
Brainerd, MN: 0.03″
Warm temperatures in southern parts of the Northland this afternoon. Check below.
For reference, typical highs on April 12th in our area range from the upper 40s to the low 50s.
Hinckley, MN: 82
Aitkin, MN: 81
Moose Lake, MN: 81
Siren, WI: 80
Minong, WI: 79
Brainerd, MN: 79
McGregor, MN: 77
Cloquet, MN: 75
Hill City, MN: 74
Saginaw, MN: 72
The high of 79 degrees in Brainerd on April 12th wasn’t a record; that title goes to the 83 degrees set back in 1931.
This afternoon, the Duluth Airport reached 61 degrees, while temperatures near Lake Superior at the Duluth Sky Harbor stayed around 40 degrees.
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