High winds leave N. Minn. powerless

CHICAGO, May 31 (UPI) -- Straight-line winds of as much as 40 mph whipped across northeastern Minnesota Tuesday, knocking out power to several thousand people, officials said.

The Duluth News Tribune reported Minnesota Power repair crews were dealing with 31 outages that were affecting 3,289 customers, while Lake Country Power had about 3,500 customers without power. At least five counties were affected by the outages.

The newspaper said the primary problem was trees hitting a Minnesota Power transmission line that feeds into two Lake Country Power substations. The Lake Country Power Web site said winds were gusting as high as 40 mph and the National Weather Service had issued a wind advisory until 10 p.m., the News Tribune said.

A power outage in Ely knocked radio station WELY off the air for a time.

In Baltimore, the city health department issued a Code Red heat alert Tuesday, with the heat index expected to reach between 100 and 105 degrees, officials said. Cooling centers were opened and city officials began reaching out to vulnerable populations early in the day.

The combination of humidity and high temperatures prompted public school officials to cancel afternoon classes and operate on a half-day schedule, The Baltimore Sun reported.

Unseasonably warm weather, with temperatures in the 90s, forced the closing of Chicago's North Avenue beach after four beach-goers suffered heat exhaustion on Memorial Day, authorities said. Police ordered everyone to leave at 6 p.m. local time after eight people fell ill, many complaining of symptoms related to the heat, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Four of the eight were transported to a hospital, one a young man in critical condition, a fire department spokesman said.

Thousands of residents of Fargo, N.D., were still without power Tuesday following a Monday night storm that featured winds of more than 70 mph, the Fargo Forum reported. Crews were repairing secondary lines to neighborhoods blacked out by the storm.

Severe weather covered the Upper Midwest Tuesday, with afternoon thunderstorms forecast for Chicago north through eastern Wisconsin and into the Great Lakes.

The storms could reach Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland Tuesday evening, AccuWeather.com said.

Joplin, Mo., hit by a deadly multiple-vortex EF5 tornado May 22, faced a 75 percent chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon but winds of only about 15 mph were forecast, AccuWeather said.

The greatest chance of Midwest tornadoes was for northern Indiana into Michigan, TheWeatherSpace.com reported.