Blog Article
July 24, 2026 Severe Weather Recap: MN Tornado & ND Wind Damage
Full recap of July 24, 2026 severe weather: a Middle River, MN tornado report, 71 mph wind gust in Jud, ND, Florida waterspouts, and ongoing Southeast flooding.
July 24, 2026 Severe Weather Recap: A Minnesota Tornado Report Caps a Rough Night Across the Dakotas
Alright folks, let's talk about Friday. If you were watching the Dakotas and northern Minnesota, you saw the atmosphere finally cash the check that Thursday night's storms had been writing.
How the Day Unfolded
The morning started quiet on the tropical side. Tropical Storm Bertha finished winding down, getting absorbed into a trough with no direct US land impacts to report. Out in the Eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Genevieve spun up, but that's a story for another ocean and another day.
By afternoon, the same stalled frontal boundary that had been dumping rain on the Southeast all week was still sitting there. North-central Georgia and coastal North Carolina kept seeing flash flooding, and out west, burn scar areas in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado dealt with their own round of flash flood trouble. None of that was new. It's the same pattern that's been grinding on for days.
The real action showed up in the evening across southeastern North Dakota and northern Minnesota. Here's the timeline, straight from the local storm reports:
- 9:51 PM CDT (2151 UTC): Wind damage reported in Baldwin, ND. Two pine trees uprooted, confirmed later by broadcast media photos.
- 10:20 PM CDT (2320 UTC): Trees down west of Kelliher, MN, blocking county roads and knocking out power in Kelliher and Blackduck.
- 10:34 PM CDT (2334 UTC): A trained spotter reported a tornado near Middle River, MN, with possibly two rotations on the ground.
- 10:48 PM CDT (2348 UTC): A damaged grain elevator in Jud, ND, roof peeled back, concurrent with a 71 mph gust measured at an NDAWN station one mile south of town.
Down in Florida, completely unrelated to the Plains storms, a mature waterspout formed north of Stock Island near Key West around 6:40 PM EDT. NWS staff and the public watched it for at least 19 minutes before it dissipated. A follow-up report noted it drifted into Sunset Marina on Stock Island, likely causing minor damage to boats and deck items. A second waterspout was reported near North Miami Beach later that evening around 8:11 PM EDT.
And in the Southeast, a separate pocket of wind damage hit Pineland, SC, where a 911 call center reported a tree and power lines down.
What We Can Actually Confirm
- Tornado report: Near Middle River, MN, reported by a trained spotter at 10:34 PM CDT. No EF rating has come through yet, and none should be assumed until NWS completes a damage survey.
- Wind damage: 71 mph gust measured at an NDAWN station near Jud, ND, with a grain elevator roof damaged.
- Wind damage: Uprooted trees in Baldwin, ND, and Kelliher, MN, with power outages spreading into Blackduck.
- Two waterspouts: Confirmed near Key West and reported near North Miami Beach, FL, one causing minor marina damage.
- Ongoing flash flooding: North-central Georgia, coastal North Carolina, and burn scar zones in NM, AZ, and CO.
Forecast Versus Reality
Our Thursday coverage flagged that Robinson, ND, had already measured a 79 mph gust the night before, and the setup wasn't going anywhere fast. Friday proved that right. The same corridor across North Dakota into Minnesota stayed active, this time producing a tornado report and another round of wind damage, including that 71 mph gust in Jud. The multi-day severe wind threat across the northern Plains held up exactly like the pattern suggested it would.
The flooding side of the forecast held up too. We'd been saying the stalled front over the Southeast wasn't budging, and it didn't. Georgia and coastal North Carolina kept seeing the same flash flood risk they'd had all week.
The one thing nobody was specifically calling out ahead of time was the tornado report itself, or the Florida waterspouts. That's honest forecasting for you. SPC outlooks talk in probabilities across broad areas, not pinpoint locations, and Friday's Middle River report is a good reminder why that gap exists.
What's Coming Next
As of Saturday morning, SPC has shifted the severe wind focus west into central Montana and South Dakota, with a Slight Risk up and gusts potentially reaching 75 mph or higher in the strongest cells. That Northern Plains severe machine hasn't shut off, it's just relocating.
WPC still has a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall today for the eastern Carolinas, parts of Arkansas, and the Southwest into the Tennessee Valley, so the flood-weary Southeast isn't out of the woods. Looking ahead, Sunday brings a Slight Risk of severe hail and wind into the Upper Mississippi Valley and Upper Midwest, and Monday shifts that threat into the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley.
Bottom Line
Friday's severe weather stayed contained mostly to North Dakota and Minnesota, but it packed a real punch: a spotter-reported tornado, a 71 mph gust that damaged a grain elevator, and scattered tree damage with power outages. The Southeast and Southwest kept fighting the same flash flood pattern that's been camped out for days. Nothing here reached the scale of a widespread outbreak, and the forecast track record from earlier in the week held up well. The takeaway for anyone in the northern Plains: this pattern is mobile, not finished, and it's worth watching where it lands next.