Rainy in many areas through Sunday afternoon; updated rain totals
Strong winds and cool temps for much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin
Soaking rains fell across the Twin Cities metro area and much of central and southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin Saturday evening into Sunday morning. The rain will continue through Sunday afternoon in many locations, including the Twin Cities metro area.
As of 9 a.m., the weekend rainfall total at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 1.79 inches. The National Weather Service posted some weekend rain totals early this morning:
Many areas will see 1 to 2 inches of additional rain Sunday into Sunday evening, with some amounts over 2 inches to the south:
It looks like most spots in the Twin Cities metro area could tally another inch to 1.5 inches of rain by late Sunday afternoon, followed by scattered evening showers.
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern Sunday afternoon through Sunday night:
The rain will linger into Sunday night in parts of southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Ponding of water in low areas can be expected this afternoon..
You can hear updated weather information on the MPR network, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.
Temps and winds
Highs will only reach the 50s this Sunday in the Twin Cities metro area and much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Most of northwestern and north-central Minnesota will see highs in the 60s, but some spots in far northwestern Minnesota could top 70 degrees.
Winds will gust over 30 mph at times in the southern half of Minnesota plus western Wisconsin:
Temperatures rebound this week
I’ll start with winds, which will be gusting over 20 mph in most of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin on Monday:
Plotted gusts are in knots, with 21 knots equal to 24 mph. Much higher gusts can be expected near any thunderstorms that develop.
Monday highs reach the 70s in many areas, with 60s in southeastern Minnesota, parts of the northeast and also in western Wisconsin:
Some spots near Lake Superior may top out in the 50s.
Most of the Twin Cities metro area will see Monday highs around 70 degrees. Twin Cities highs are projected to reach the mid 70s Tuesday, then around 80 on Wednesday followed by lower 80s Thursday and Friday.
It was soggy three years ago too
On May 17, 2017 MSP airport tallied 1.81 inches of rain:
Another 1.47 inches of rain fell on May 20, 2017 and there was an additional .86 of an inch if you add up the totals on May 15, May 16 and May 18. That gave MSP airport a total of 4.14 inches of rain from May 15 through May 20 of 2017. That’s a lot of rain in 6 days.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.