Light rail service on the Blue Line, between downtown Minneapolis and Fort Snelling, begins. Full service to MSP Airport and the Mall of America begins on December 4, 2004. Through the end of 2013, there are 90.5 million rides on the Blue Line.

The first commuter rail train in Minnesota carries passengers from Big Lake to downtown Minneapolis. The Northstar Rail Line cost $320 million and is funded by the federal and state governments, the regional rail authorities for Anoka, Hennepin, and Sherburne counties, the Metropolitan Council, and the Minnesota Twins.

Governor Mark Dayton orders all schools in the state closed due to cold-weather predictions. This will be the first of many temperature-related closures this winter, leading districts to develop related policies. The 2013–2014 winter is the coldest since 1978–1979.

Flash flooding kills seven and causes $67 million in damages in Dodge, Fillmore, Houston, Olmsted, Steele, Wabasha, and Winona counties. People are evacuated from Rushford, Stockton, Houston, Elba, Minnesota City, and portions of Winona.

A massive storm, which continues into June 20, drops over seven inches of rain on Duluth and surrounding areas. 3,100 homes and businesses are damaged. Total damage estimates are set at $100 million. Floodwaters overwhelm the Duluth Zoo, killing several animals and leading several others to escape. The Swinging Bridge in Jay Cooke State Park is destroyed.

Bobby Tufts is elected mayor of Dorset—a symbolic rather than a practical office. He is four years old.

The Republican National Convention begins at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. John McCain was selected as the Republican presidential candidate.

President Barack Obama starts a three-day bus tour with a town hall meeting in Cannon Falls. After the meeting his motorcade travels down Highway 52 through Zumbro, Rochester, Chatfield, Fountain, Preston, and Harmony on its way to the Seed Exchange in Decorah, Iowa.

A shutdown of the state government begins and lasts twenty days. During the shutdown all non-critical state services are closed and an estimated 19,000 employees are laid off.

After reaching the mandatory retirement age of seventy, former Minnesota Viking Alan Page retires from the Minnesota Supreme Court. Page served on the court for twenty-two years.