By MATT ERICKSON
Staff Writer

Thunder, lightning and hail - the hallmarks of a summer storm.

Only for the Brainerd area on Thursday, the thunderstorm rolled through more than a week before spring officially begins.

A band of heavy showers moved through the area from the southeast Thursday afternoon, with thunder heard throughout the area, a few lightning strikes and pea-sized hail reported in Brainerd, Nisswa and on Lake Mille Lacs.

As of 5 p.m., Brainerd had received about .60 inch of rain, the National Weather Service in Duluth reported.

The rain combined with above average temperatures in the first part of March has resulted in snow cover slowly disappearing. The weather service Thursday posted an advisory that people should watch out for flooded ditches and culverts as water has no where else to go due to the frozen ground.

The Crow Wing River near Pillager and the Mississippi River in Aitkin, Brainerd and Fort Ripley have been rising since early Thursday, but the Mississippi River remained well below flood stages.

Near Pillager, the Crow Wing River was at 4.16 feet. No flood stage was listed.

In Aitkin, where the Mississippi River has a flood stage of 12 feet, the river on Thursday was at 6.9 feet. In Brainerd, where the river has a flood stage of 13 feet, the river was at 5.95 feet. In Fort Ripley, where the river has a flood stage of 10 feet, the river was at 6.43 feet.

Meteorologist Roman Berdes said the weather service is monitoring river levels but he didn't expect flood advisories to be posted because of this week's rainfall.

"Right now we're expecting these thunderstorms to diminish with light to moderate rain into Friday, which shouldn't cause problems," Berdes said. "However, if heavy precipitation rates continue through (Friday) we could see maybe a little bit more severe flooding than we expected."

Ice jams, which happened a year ago on the Crow Wing River and caused flooding to several homes, are also a possibility as rivers open up, the weather service reported.

The National Weather Service in Duluth's forecast for the weekend and into next week has temperatures remaining well above average:

• Friday - Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain. Fog in the morning and patchy fog in the afternoon. High temps of 38 to 43 degrees and low temps of 33 to 38 degrees Friday night.

• Saturday - Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain. High temps of 43 to 48 degrees. Low temps of 33 to 38 degrees on Saturday night.

• Sunday - Mostly cloudy with high temps of 43-48 degrees and low temps of 33-38 degrees Sunday night.

• Monday through Tuesday - Partly cloudy with high temps of 47 to 52 degrees and low temps of 30 to 35 degrees.

MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.