Shower chance Monday; bumpy Sunday in Louisiana

If you live in southeastern Minnesota, you'll probably need your umbrella on Monday.

The Twin Cities metro area could also see some showers, especially late Monday afternoon and Monday evening.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows a low pressure system moving into Missouri early Monday. The low moves northeastward from there, arriving in northern Illinois by Monday evening.

The NAM model shows showers moving into southeastern Minnesota Monday morning, then spreading northward during the afternoon and evening hours:

The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the strength of the radar signal that returns to the radar, not inches of rain!

Tuesday is still looking dry, and there's a small shower chance on Wednesday.

Mild temps

Our average high temperature is 51 degrees in the Twin Cities in early April.

We'll be slightly above average Monday afternoon, and highs in the 50s will be common over most of Minnesota:

Tuesday highs reach the upper 50s in the Twin Cities, followed by lower 50s Wednesday and Thursday.

Twin Cities highs rebound into the upper 50s on Friday, and into the 60s next weekend.

Rare type of watch in Louisiana  

The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service has a rare type of tornado watch that is used for less than 10% of the tornado watches that are issued.

It is labeled as a PDS tornado watch, with PDS signifying a Particularly Dangerous Situation.

A PDS tornado watch was in effect Sunday afternoon and evening for Louisiana and part of east Texas:

Here are the details of the PDS tornado watch on Sunday:

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED

Tornado Watch Number 110

NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK

135 PM CDT Sun Apr 2 2017

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a

* Tornado Watch for portions of

Central and Northern Louisiana

West-central Mississippi

East Texas

* Effective this Sunday afternoon and evening from 135 PM until

900 PM CDT.

...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION...

* Primary threats include...

Numerous tornadoes and several intense tornadoes expected

Widespread large hail and scattered very large hail events to 3

inches in diameter likely

Widespread damaging wind gusts to 70 mph likely

SUMMARY...A dangerous combination of parameters suggests that

tornadoes will occur over parts of east TX, northern and central LA,

and eastern MS this afternoon and evening.  Strong tornadoes are a

concern.

The tornado watch area is approximately along and 55 statute miles

north and south of a line from 85 miles west of Fort Polk LA to 65

miles northeast of Natchez MS. For a complete depiction of the watch

see the associated watch outline update (WOUS64 KWNS WOU0).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

REMEMBER...A Tornado Watch means conditions are favorable for

tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch

area. Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for

threatening weather conditions and listen for later statements

and possible warnings.

By late Sunday afternoon there were several confirmed tornado touchdowns in Louisiana, with the potential for more tornadoes into Sunday evening.

You can check with the Storm Prediction Center for the latest severe weather information.

No severe weather is expected in Minnesota over the next few days, but Minnesota did see 3 tornadoes back on March 6.

The March 6 tornadoes set a new record for the earliest tornadoes in any year in Minnesota.

Severe weather awareness week is April 17 through April 21 this year in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

There will be statewide tornado drills in Minnesota and Wisconsin on Thursday April 20.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 and 9:35 a.m., plus 4:35 p.m., each Saturday and Sunday.