Multi-inch rainfall totals this week; increasingly sunny weekend ahead.

It’s been a rainfall bonanza for many Minnesota towns, lawns, and farm fields this week. Locally heavy downpours and some smallish hail fell across much of Minnesota over the past two days.

Widespread rainfall totals between .50” and 1.5” have fallen around Minnesota. Several locations have picked up 2 to nearly 4 inches of rain in the past 24 hours. You can see the top rainfall totals in many Minnesota locations at the top of this post. And you can see past, live, and modeled future radar loops here on our new interactive radar image on the MPR weather page.

Here is a more complete list of rainfall totals for locations around Minnesota.

Fewer showers Saturday

Scattered heavy downpours continue into Friday evening. By Saturday the slow-moving low-pressure system cranking out our chaotic rainfall pattern will weaken and slide gradually southward. We may even see some peeks of sun Saturday afternoon.

NOAA’s HRRR model picks up on the trend of fading showers after sunset Friday and scattered rains shifting mostly into Iowa and Wisconsin Saturday.

Summer returns Sunday

Sunday will be the best day of the weekend for summer and sunshine lovers. Look for mostly sunny skies, and high temperatures will push the 80-degree mark again in the Twin Cities and most of western Minnesota.