Areas of thunderstorms into Saturday evening, severe weather is possible

The tornado watch that had been in effect for portions of Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin was cancelled around 2:30 p.m. Saturday by the National Weather Service.

Periods of showers and thunderstorms are still expected in much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening, with a few severe thunderstorms possible.

The NWS Storm Prediction Center shows an enhanced risk of severe weather Saturday afternoon and evening from southwestern Minnesota through the Twin Cities and on into west-central Wisconsin:

Enhanced risk means that numerous severe thunderstorms are possible:

Scattered severe thunderstorms are possible in the area that’s shaded yellow on the severe weather outlook. Some locations may also see heavy rain this afternoon and evening/overnight.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

5 p.m. Update

A tornado watch continues until 9 p.m. this Saturday in 8 counties of southwestern Minnesota:

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

6 p.m. Update

A severe thunderstorm watch continues until 11 p.m. this Saturday for portions of southern Minnesota, plus Carver and Scott counties of the Twin Cities metro area:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Stay weather-aware Saturday afternoon and evening. Make sure that you have a way to get severe weather warnings today and tonight. MPR, NOAA weather radio, or a weather app are among your options for forecasts, watches and warnings.

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio network, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Severe reports

There were several severe weather warnings Saturday morning into early afternoon from west-central Minnesota through parts of central and east-central Minnesota.

This large hail fell near Appleton, in Swift County:

Hail and wind reports can be found on the Storm Prediction Center page. 100 on the SPC hail report listing equals one inch diameter hail. Times listed are in Universal time, which is 5 hours ahead of CDT; so 1700 is noon CDT.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.