Severe Weather Around Brainerd

Nasty summer storms upset the dinner hour around the Brainerd Lakes Friday. In addition to a wide Thunderstorm Watch area, portions of the of the lakes area were under a Tornado Warning.
Several funnel clouds were spotted six miles east of Leader in Cass County. A trained spotter reported 10 large trees down from winds estimated at 70 miles per hour shortly after 6 pm. Many trees were down along State Highway 232, two miles east of Palisade in Aitkin County. Half-inch size hail fell in Baxter around 6:30 PM. At about that same time, strong winds downed trees on Ojibwa Road in Nisswa, and electricity was lost. Hail three quarter inch or larger was reported in East Gull Lake, Nisswa, Motley and Pillager around 6 PM.
Last night, thousands of Crow Wing Power members lost power from passing storms. Those storms produced wind gusts up to 70 mph. The majority of the Thursday night damage ranged from Motley northeast to Emily and heavily hit portions of Crosslake and Breezy Point.