June 5-11, 2002: Catastrophic Rains in Northern Minnesota.

The week of June 5-11 brought tremendous rains to northwestern and north-central Minnesota, causing widespread major flooding along rivers in that area. Rainfall totals ranged from 4-8 inches, with most falling on the 9th and 10th. Two other bands in the Midwest also received 1-3 inches of rain, from western Iowa to northern Michigan and southern Missouri to southern Ohio (Figure 9). All of these areas were well above normal in precipitation for the week, with northwestern Minnesota exceeding 700% of normal (Figure 10). Due to the repetitive nature of the storms as a boundary moved north and south across the region all week, temperatures average out to about normal to slightly above normal (Figure 11). Despite all the rain, several areas were missed, including northern Missouri, southern Michigan, and northeastern Minnesota, the latter of which remains in an abnormally dry state (Figure 12, NDMC) and is susceptible to wildfires.

The week started with the completion of heavy rains in northern Illinois, northeastern Iowa, and southern Wisconsin that caused extensive flooding. The same front advanced to the Ohio Valley on the 5th and 6th, bringing 1-2 inches of rain as it slowly pushed through the region. Later on the 7th, a week cold front moved into the northwestern Midwest, stalled, and returned north as a warm front. Over the next several days, wave after wave of rain came through northwestern Minnesota, resulting in 7.71 inches at Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, among other large rainfall amounts. Finally, on the 11th, a stronger cold front pushed to the south and east, bringing heavy rains to the central Midwest (Figure 13, National Weather Service - NWS) and causing more flooding in central Illinois in the next week. Intense thunderstorms caused power outages for 32,000 customers in the Chicago area, and delayed flights at O'Hare Airport. In St. Louis, about 40,000 customers were without power when the squall line passed that location.