A sunny and warm Sunday gave way to building thunderstorms that moved across the Twin Cities. There were many reports of hail in the penny to quarter size in the northern metro area, with a few larger reports. The largest hail report found was golfball-sized near Stillwater. There were also reports of hail piling up like snow on the ground several inches deep and some of the hail was still lingering on the ground 12 hours later.
The rain was a welcome sight but most places saw less than a half inch of rain in the Twin Cities. A few places saw more including .76 inches in northern Fridley. The Twin Cities International Airport only saw .05 (five hundredths of an inch) of rain. A heavier band of rain moved across southeast Minnesota and also dropped some large hail near Albert Lea, Austin and Rochester. Rochester saw .66 of an inch of rain and Harmony in Fillmore County saw 1.04 inch of rain. The rain missed the driest sections of the state in northwest, north central and and west central parts of Minnesota.
Below are storm reports from the National Weather Service.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 912 PM CDT SUN MAY 03 2015 ..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON... ..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.... ..REMARKS.. 0418 PM HAIL NWS CHANHASSEN 44.85N 93.57W 05/03/2015 M1.50 INCH CARVER MN NWS EMPLOYEE 0430 PM HAIL 4 E EDEN PRAIRIE 44.85N 93.38W 05/03/2015 M0.50 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0439 PM HAIL 1 W BLOOMINGTON 44.83N 93.34W 05/03/2015 M0.50 INCH HENNEPIN MN PUBLIC 0442 PM HAIL 1 NW ROGERS 45.21N 93.57W 05/03/2015 M0.50 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0443 PM HAIL PRIOR LAKE 44.73N 93.43W 05/03/2015 E0.50 INCH SCOTT MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0444 PM HAIL 4 W BLOOMINGTON 44.83N 93.40W 05/03/2015 E0.50 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0448 PM HAIL 3 SW HANOVER 45.13N 93.70W 05/03/2015 M0.88 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0453 PM HAIL SAVAGE 44.76N 93.36W 05/03/2015 M0.88 INCH SCOTT MN LAW ENFORCEMENT 0459 PM HAIL 4 ENE LAKEVILLE 44.67N 93.17W 05/03/2015 M0.50 INCH DAKOTA MN TRAINED SPOTTER 4 INCHES DEEP. 0500 PM TSTM WND DMG 5 N PLYMOUTH 45.10N 93.46W 05/03/2015 HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER WINDOWS BLOWN OUT. 0500 PM TSTM WND DMG 1 SE HUDSON 44.96N 92.73W 05/03/2015 ST. CROIX WI TRAINED SPOTTER 8 INCH TREE BRANCH DOWN 0508 PM HAIL 5 W DOWNTOWN MINNEAPOLI 44.99N 93.37W 05/03/2015 M1.00 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER GOLDEN VALLEY 0510 PM HAIL 1 SSE ROBBINSDALE 45.01N 93.33W 05/03/2015 M1.00 INCH HENNEPIN MN COCORAHS 0511 PM TSTM WND GST CRYSTAL AIRPORT 45.08N 93.38W 05/03/2015 M56.00 MPH HENNEPIN MN MESONET 0512 PM HAIL 4 NNW DOWNTOWN MINNEAPO 45.02N 93.31W 05/03/2015 M1.00 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0514 PM HAIL 2 NNW DOWNTOWN MINNEAPO 45.00N 93.29W 05/03/2015 M1.25 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0514 PM HAIL 4 NNW DOWNTOWN MINNEAPO 45.03N 93.31W 05/03/2015 M1.50 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0515 PM HAIL 1 NE DOWNTOWN MINNEAPOL 44.99N 93.26W 05/03/2015 M1.00 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0518 PM HAIL 1 N NORTH MINNEAPOLIS 45.03N 93.27W 05/03/2015 M1.25 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0523 PM HAIL 1 SE ROBBINSDALE 45.02N 93.32W 05/03/2015 M0.75 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0525 PM HAIL 3 S COLUMBIA HEIGHTS 45.00N 93.28W 05/03/2015 M0.88 INCH HENNEPIN MN AMATEUR RADIO 0525 PM TSTM WND GST 3 S COLUMBIA HEIGHTS 45.00N 93.28W 05/03/2015 M60.00 MPH HENNEPIN MN AMATEUR RADIO 0527 PM HAIL 1 SW CRYSTAL 45.03N 93.37W 05/03/2015 E1.00 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0530 PM HAIL 3 NE ROSEVILLE 45.04N 93.11W 05/03/2015 M1.00 INCH RAMSEY MN AMATEUR RADIO 0532 PM TSTM WND GST 3 NE HUDSON 45.00N 92.70W 05/03/2015 M55.00 MPH ST. CROIX WI TRAINED SPOTTER 0533 PM TSTM WND DMG HUDSON 44.97N 92.74W 05/03/2015 ST. CROIX WI TRAINED SPOTTER TWO INCH DIAMETER FLAG POLE SNAPPED OFF TWO FEET ABOVE GROUND. 0535 PM TSTM WND DMG 4 E BLAINE 45.17N 93.12W 05/03/2015 ANOKA MN LAW ENFORCEMENT TREE DOWN IN LINO LAKES...JUST WEST OF MARSHAN LAKE. 0543 PM HAIL 1 S WHITE BEAR LAKE 45.05N 93.01W 05/03/2015 M1.00 INCH RAMSEY MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0545 PM HAIL 2 SSE STILLWATER 45.04N 92.81W 05/03/2015 M1.75 INCH WASHINGTON MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0545 PM HAIL 1 WSW LITTLE CANADA 45.02N 93.10W 05/03/2015 M1.25 INCH RAMSEY MN COCORAHS 5 INCHES DEEP 0550 PM HAIL 4 E ELLSWORTH 44.73N 92.41W 05/03/2015 M0.75 INCH PIERCE WI TRAINED SPOTTER 0551 PM TSTM WND GST 1 S HUDSON 44.95N 92.74W 05/03/2015 M50.00 MPH ST. CROIX WI AMATEUR RADIO I-94 MILE MARKER 4 0553 PM HAIL 2 N HUDSON 45.00N 92.74W 05/03/2015 M1.25 INCH ST. CROIX WI TRAINED SPOTTER 0555 PM TSTM WND DMG 1 N BALDWIN 44.98N 92.37W 05/03/2015 ST. CROIX WI TRAINED SPOTTER 20 INCH TREE DOWN 0556 PM TSTM WND GST MAHTOMEDI 45.06N 92.96W 05/03/2015 E60.00 MPH WASHINGTON MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0608 PM HAIL 1 NNW COTTAGE GROVE 44.84N 92.93W 05/03/2015 M1.00 INCH WASHINGTON MN TRAINED SPOTTER 0610 PM TSTM WND DMG 2 NNW HAMMOND 45.00N 92.45W 05/03/2015 ST. CROIX WI TRAINED SPOTTER SHINGLES BLOWN OFF ROOF 0610 PM TSTM WND GST 2 NNW HAMMOND 45.00N 92.45W 05/03/2015 M55.00 MPH ST. CROIX WI TRAINED SPOTTER 0615 PM HEAVY RAIN HUDSON 44.97N 92.74W 05/03/2015 E1.90 INCH ST. CROIX WI TRAINED SPOTTER FELL IN 19 MINUTES