Minnesota starts the second half of meteorological summer soaked in rain
Floodwaters cover U.S. Highway 75 north of Ortonville following torrential rain on Friday, June 13, 2025.
Courtesy Big Stone County Sheriff's Office
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
Minnesota has had an eventful 24 hours of weather with lots of rain and a big drop in temperatures. It all comes at the halfway point of meteorological summer. To find out how the second half of the season could unfold, MPR News host Nina Moini talks with MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner on Minnesota Now.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: We have had quite the 24 hours of weather, lots of rain, a big drop in temperatures, and it comes as we're already halfway through meteorological summer. Here with a report on how the second half of summer could unfold is MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner. Thanks for being here, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: Oh, it's my pleasure, Nina. And happy October today, right?
NINA MOINI: Yeah. Yeah. So it's crazy to me that we're already almost halfway through July anyway. And it's been so rainy the past day or so. What are the rainfall totals you're seeing?
PAUL HUTTNER: This has been a real mid-summer soaker for much of Minnesota, especially the eastern part. Rainfall totals coming in from observers all across the state of Minnesota today. And about eight miles Southwest of Duluth, 4 and 1/2 inches of rain has fallen in the last day or so.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: And we've got some impressive-- yeah, impressive totals right into the Twin Cities, too. Bloomington, about 3 and 1/2. Two Harbors, up on the North Shore, 2.7. New Prague, 2.6. St. Paul, 2.4.
You get into the central and western Twin Cities, about an inch and a half to 2 inches of rain. I saw 2 in Chanhassen. I had 1.6 inches here in my weather gauge in the southwest Twin Cities. So it's been a real soaker here over the last day or so.
Those showers now still clinging to the North Shore, eastern Minnesota, down to about St. Cloud, and then southeast Minnesota, Red Wing down to Rochester. They will fade as we go through the afternoon, thankfully.
NINA MOINI: So where does all of this fit in to the overall temperatures and rainfall you've been tracking through the summer?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, and you're right, meteorological summer begins June 1. So hey, July 16 today, right? We're about halfway through. And by the way, the State Fair begins five weeks from tomorrow.
NINA MOINI: I know it.
PAUL HUTTNER: That is crazy. Anyway, we got lots of great summer left, but it's been slightly warm and very soggy this summer. Temperatures running about 2 degrees warmer than average overall in the Twin Cities, much of Minnesota. And rainfall-wise, we have been soaked in many places. We've had 8.4 inches of rain, roughly, in the Twin Cities since June 1. That's about 2 inches more than normal.
But I'll tell you what. West of the Twin Cities, highway 212, highway 7 corridors out toward Granite Falls and Olivia, they've had 10 to 15 inches of rain since June 1. There's standing water in the fields. I took a trip out there about a week ago, and there's a lot of standing water in some of the farm fields there in central Minnesota. So little warm and very, very wet so far this summer.
NINA MOINI: OK. And I know it's hard to tell completely, but what are you kind of forecasting for the outlook for the second half of summer? I mean, do you think it's going to be as rainy?
PAUL HUTTNER: There are a few signals, and NOAA's outlooks are favoring slightly warmer than average temperatures and maybe a little more of a dry bias. So we could dry out a little bit. That's typical in Minnesota. The second half of our summers are typically drier than the first half.
And I do see more 90s again. So hang in there, warm weather heat lovers. 90s again, possibly next week and the last week of July. So plenty of summer ahead. Chances are we'll dry out a little more as we head through the second half of summer.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, and I'm already seeing all the back-to-school ads, too, so we'll savor what we can. Tomorrow looks like it's actually going to be really wonderful. What are you kind of expecting through the rest of the week and weekend?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, more sunshine on the way. So tomorrow, highs in the 70s across most of Minnesota with sunshine, maybe some 60s up north. And then just a slight shower chance Friday night into Saturday, but plenty of sun around that. 76 Friday, 79 or 80 on Saturday and Sunday, sunshine and 80 degrees. So a nice stretch of weather coming up. And again, now, we could hit 90 again in the Twin Cities by about next Tuesday.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. And Paul, we've had so much severe weather during this time, too. The temperatures are up and down. And how prepared are we across the state? I mean, how many Dopplers are covering the Minnesota area? Are there gaps in detecting severe weather? Tell us about that.
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, and that's really important when it comes to issuing those warnings from the local Weather Service offices. There are 159 Doppler radars across the country. They're called WSR 88-D, Weather Service Radar 88-D, for the year 1988 when this current version was invented. It's been updated since then.
But Minnesota, we've got the coverage for southeast Minnesota from the La Crosse Doppler. Sioux Falls, South Dakota covers southwest Minnesota. The Twin Cities Doppler, of course, covers Twin Cities, central, and southern Minnesota. And then Grand Forks has a Doppler radar that covers the Red River Valley, much of northwest Minnesota.
But one of the bigger gaps in the country is between that Grand Forks, Duluth, and Twin Cities radar, so parts of northwest, west, central Minnesota, Detroit Lakes up to Bemidji, those areas. Sometimes the radar can only see storms when they're several thousand feet above ground, so it's harder to detect the low level circulations, the damaging winds. So we could certainly use another Doppler radar in Minnesota somewhere in the northwest, say Bemidji or International Falls would be a great spot for another Doppler if we could make it happen.
NINA MOINI: Well that's fascinating. You're also going to be bringing us a Climate Cast this week, like you do every week. Tell us what it's on.
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. So the big BBB Bill eliminated tax credits, or is eliminating them for future solar projects in Minnesota. We'll talk with the CEO of All Energy Solar, a company that does a lot of installations, and see what they're thinking about in terms of how solar will lay out in Minnesota over the coming years. That's tomorrow on Climate Cast during All Things Considered.
NINA MOINI: Thank you so much, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: My pleasure. Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner.
PAUL HUTTNER: Oh, it's my pleasure, Nina. And happy October today, right?
NINA MOINI: Yeah. Yeah. So it's crazy to me that we're already almost halfway through July anyway. And it's been so rainy the past day or so. What are the rainfall totals you're seeing?
PAUL HUTTNER: This has been a real mid-summer soaker for much of Minnesota, especially the eastern part. Rainfall totals coming in from observers all across the state of Minnesota today. And about eight miles Southwest of Duluth, 4 and 1/2 inches of rain has fallen in the last day or so.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: And we've got some impressive-- yeah, impressive totals right into the Twin Cities, too. Bloomington, about 3 and 1/2. Two Harbors, up on the North Shore, 2.7. New Prague, 2.6. St. Paul, 2.4.
You get into the central and western Twin Cities, about an inch and a half to 2 inches of rain. I saw 2 in Chanhassen. I had 1.6 inches here in my weather gauge in the southwest Twin Cities. So it's been a real soaker here over the last day or so.
Those showers now still clinging to the North Shore, eastern Minnesota, down to about St. Cloud, and then southeast Minnesota, Red Wing down to Rochester. They will fade as we go through the afternoon, thankfully.
NINA MOINI: So where does all of this fit in to the overall temperatures and rainfall you've been tracking through the summer?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, and you're right, meteorological summer begins June 1. So hey, July 16 today, right? We're about halfway through. And by the way, the State Fair begins five weeks from tomorrow.
NINA MOINI: I know it.
PAUL HUTTNER: That is crazy. Anyway, we got lots of great summer left, but it's been slightly warm and very soggy this summer. Temperatures running about 2 degrees warmer than average overall in the Twin Cities, much of Minnesota. And rainfall-wise, we have been soaked in many places. We've had 8.4 inches of rain, roughly, in the Twin Cities since June 1. That's about 2 inches more than normal.
But I'll tell you what. West of the Twin Cities, highway 212, highway 7 corridors out toward Granite Falls and Olivia, they've had 10 to 15 inches of rain since June 1. There's standing water in the fields. I took a trip out there about a week ago, and there's a lot of standing water in some of the farm fields there in central Minnesota. So little warm and very, very wet so far this summer.
NINA MOINI: OK. And I know it's hard to tell completely, but what are you kind of forecasting for the outlook for the second half of summer? I mean, do you think it's going to be as rainy?
PAUL HUTTNER: There are a few signals, and NOAA's outlooks are favoring slightly warmer than average temperatures and maybe a little more of a dry bias. So we could dry out a little bit. That's typical in Minnesota. The second half of our summers are typically drier than the first half.
And I do see more 90s again. So hang in there, warm weather heat lovers. 90s again, possibly next week and the last week of July. So plenty of summer ahead. Chances are we'll dry out a little more as we head through the second half of summer.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, and I'm already seeing all the back-to-school ads, too, so we'll savor what we can. Tomorrow looks like it's actually going to be really wonderful. What are you kind of expecting through the rest of the week and weekend?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, more sunshine on the way. So tomorrow, highs in the 70s across most of Minnesota with sunshine, maybe some 60s up north. And then just a slight shower chance Friday night into Saturday, but plenty of sun around that. 76 Friday, 79 or 80 on Saturday and Sunday, sunshine and 80 degrees. So a nice stretch of weather coming up. And again, now, we could hit 90 again in the Twin Cities by about next Tuesday.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. And Paul, we've had so much severe weather during this time, too. The temperatures are up and down. And how prepared are we across the state? I mean, how many Dopplers are covering the Minnesota area? Are there gaps in detecting severe weather? Tell us about that.
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, and that's really important when it comes to issuing those warnings from the local Weather Service offices. There are 159 Doppler radars across the country. They're called WSR 88-D, Weather Service Radar 88-D, for the year 1988 when this current version was invented. It's been updated since then.
But Minnesota, we've got the coverage for southeast Minnesota from the La Crosse Doppler. Sioux Falls, South Dakota covers southwest Minnesota. The Twin Cities Doppler, of course, covers Twin Cities, central, and southern Minnesota. And then Grand Forks has a Doppler radar that covers the Red River Valley, much of northwest Minnesota.
But one of the bigger gaps in the country is between that Grand Forks, Duluth, and Twin Cities radar, so parts of northwest, west, central Minnesota, Detroit Lakes up to Bemidji, those areas. Sometimes the radar can only see storms when they're several thousand feet above ground, so it's harder to detect the low level circulations, the damaging winds. So we could certainly use another Doppler radar in Minnesota somewhere in the northwest, say Bemidji or International Falls would be a great spot for another Doppler if we could make it happen.
NINA MOINI: Well that's fascinating. You're also going to be bringing us a Climate Cast this week, like you do every week. Tell us what it's on.
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. So the big BBB Bill eliminated tax credits, or is eliminating them for future solar projects in Minnesota. We'll talk with the CEO of All Energy Solar, a company that does a lot of installations, and see what they're thinking about in terms of how solar will lay out in Minnesota over the coming years. That's tomorrow on Climate Cast during All Things Considered.
NINA MOINI: Thank you so much, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: My pleasure. Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner.
Download transcript (PDF)
Transcription services provided by 3Play Media.
Dear reader,
Your voice matters. And we want to hear it.
Will you help shape the future of Minnesota Public Radio by taking our short Listener Survey?
It only takes a few minutes, and your input helps us serve you better—whether it’s news, culture, or the conversations that matter most to Minnesotans.
