Thursday storms settling down; cool and breezy Friday coming
A strengthening swirl of low pressure has been triggering numerous showers and thunderstorms around Minnesota on Thursday. Very heavy rain has been common across southern Minnesota.
Severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued, mainly for possible damaging winds from the fast-moving cells.
A sufficient amount of spin in the atmosphere led the National Weather Service to issue a tornado watch until 10 p.m. for southeastern Minnesota, southwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Iowa. Parts of the watch have been cancelled ahead of time as the strongest storms race out of the watch area and deeper into Wisconsin.
Flooding possibilities
Yet more rain on soggy ground brings the opportunity for flooding. Street flooding was reported in Austin, Minn., late Thursday afternoon.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
Heavy rains expected to continue into Thursday night might cause sudden flooding of low-lying and saturated areas. The National Weather Service has issued flash flood watches for parts of west-central Wisconsin until 10 p.m. Thursday and for southeastern Minnesota until 1 a.m. on Friday.
In addition, flood warnings for continued high water levels will remain in effect for some rivers in southwestern Minnesota.
It will be a rainy evening and night across much of Wisconsin as the weakened storms track eastward.
Cool, drafty Friday
Friday will put us on the backside of this potent low-pressure system. That means cool temperatures with highs just from the low 50s way up north to the mid-60s in the south. The Twin Cities should have a high in the low 60s.
Blustery northwest winds will gust to at least 30 mph in open areas.
We are likely to see a few widely scattered showers, but nothing even close to severe.
Storms for Saturday
Saturday will bring warmer temperatures with highs from the mid-60s in the north to the upper 70s in the balmy south.
Scattered thunderstorms are likely to develop Saturday afternoon and linger into the night. Forecast models have been inconsistent as to where they are most likely to strike. Some storms might become severe so the Storm Prediction Center has issued a marginal risk of severe weather for about the southeastern third of Minnesota as a heads-up.
Glorious Sunday
Sunday looks to be a sunny, warm day, prefect for patio-sitting. High temperatures should warm to the mid-70s in the north and up to the low 80s across southern Minnesota.
Summer-like warm-up next week
Yep, much toastier weather will be coming our way by early next week.
We enjoy dry heat during most autumnal warm spells. Not this time. Warm high temperatures running about ten degrees warmer than normal will be accompanied by rather muggy dew points into the 60s for much of the state.
That heat and moisture will probably result in an outbreak of thunderstorms sometime around mid week.