A tornado watch is in effect until 8 p.m. Thursday, May 15. The National Weather Service issued the watch for 21 Minnesota counties, including Stearns, Benton and Sherburne counties. The watch was issued shortly after 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Severe weather slammed several states in the Upper Midwest Thursday, dropping a few funnel clouds and likely tornadoes in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The worst of the storms have passed out of the Twin Cities metro but tornado warnings have been issued in parts of northern Minnesota and western Wisconsin as the storms push east. There was a report of an observed tornado in the New Richmond area and near Roberts around 3:30 p.