Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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I’ll take a quick look into Saturday rain totals, then move on to the forecast for the coming week.

The official Saturday rainfall total at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was just nineteen one-hundredths of an inch. I tallied one-quarter of an inch of rain in St. Paul. Radar estimates showed a narrow stripe of 1 to 2 inches in parts of the north metro along and north of I-694, and a stripe of 1 inch or so along and just south of I-494 in the south metro.  

Parts of southeastern Minnesota saw much higher rain totals. Rochester Airport had a Saturday rainfall total of 3.09 inches. Chatfield (in Fillmore County) reported 3.78 inches, and there was a rain tally of 5.10 inches near Grand Meadow in Mower County.  A flood warning continues until 1:30 this afternoon in the Spring Valley area of Fillmore County, where the NWS reports portions of Highway 63 are closed due to flooding from the 3 to 5 inches of rain that soaked that area on Saturday.

Here’s the 24-hour (ending at 7 a.m. Sunday) rainfall map from NOAA/NWS:

Notice the red-shaded areas with between 3 and 5 inches of rain in portions of southeastern Minnesota. 

Dry in most areas Sunday, then rain returns on Tuesday

There could be a few scattered showers in north-central and northeastern Minnesota and parts of northwestern Wisconsin this Sunday.

One forecast model shows scattered showers in parts of far western Minnesota Monday afternoon and evening.

A more organized area of showers and thunderstorms is on tap for Tuesday and early Tuesday evening. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from 5 a.m. Tuesday to 6 p.m. Tuesday:

The best chance of Tuesday rain in the Twin Cities appears to be during the afternoon hours.

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News 

, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News 

Sunday afternoon highs will be in the 70s across much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. A few spots in southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities could touch 80. Parts of far northern Minnesota might top out in the upper 60s. It’ll be a breezy afternoon, with wind gusts in the 20 to 26 mph range in many areas. 

Monday highs will be in the 70s north, with lower 80s in much of central and southern Minnesota:

Monday afternoon dew points will be in the very comfortable upper 40s to lower 50s in most locations:

Back to forecast highs, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be in the lower 80s Tuesday and  Wednesday, followed by upper 70s Thursday and around 80 on Friday.

August could start out warm. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a tendency for above normal temps in the upper Midwest from July 31 through August 6:

The average July 24 high temp is 83 degrees in the Twin Cities.  One month from today, the average Twin Cities high is 80 degrees. Our average Twin Cities high is down to 70 degrees on September 24.

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

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Ron Trenda

Author

Comfortable temps and dew points will stay with us today and Monday. We take a look at the week ahead, including our next chance of rain. The Saturday rainfall map shows who had the soaking rains this weekend.

A pleasant, breezy Sunday; no hot days this week

Go Deeper.

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