Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Strong thunderstorms possible late Sunday afternoon/Sunday evening

Timing of storms will vary across Minnesota

Parts of the Twin Cities metro area, southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin saw downpours and damaging thunderstorm winds Saturday evening.

There were reports of trees down in several locations, including Lakeville, Apple Valley and Eagan in Dakota County and Maplewood in Ramsey County.

A tree fell on a mobile home in Apple Valley Saturday evening:

A 61 mph wind gust was reported Saturday evening at the Minnesota State Fair, and downpours caused some flooding:

Flooded streets at the Minnesota State Fair
Severe storms brought torrential rain that caused flooding at the Minnesota State Fair on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022.
Jacob Aloi | MPR News

A storm survey crew from the Twin Cities NWS office will go out today and assess wind damage from the Saturday evening storms.

Another round of storms later today

We could see another batch of strong to severe thunderstorms late Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening in parts of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

There are a few lingering showers Sunday morning in parts of the Twin Cities metro area plus southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Those same areas could also see an isolated thunderstorm. An isolated shower or thunderstorm is possible early this afternoon in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, but the main weather event will be later today.

A more organized area of showers and thunderstorms is expected to develop in western Minnesota by late Sunday afternoon and move eastward Sunday evening and overnight Sunday night.

NOAA’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from 1 p.m. today to 1 a.m. Monday:

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Simulated radar 1 p.m. Sunday to 1 a.m. Monday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

Thunderstorm coverage may be more extensive than what is shown in the NAM model.

Here’s the NWS chart of rainfall timing today:

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Sunday rain/thunderstorm timing
National Weather Service

Severe weather outlook

The NWS Storm Prediction Center shows a slight risk (shaded yellow) of severe weather Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening for much of Minnesota (including the Twin Cities metro area) and portions of western Wisconsin:

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Sunday afternoon/evening severe weather outlook
NWS Storm Prediction Center/Twin Cities NWS

Slight risk means that scattered severe thunderstorms are possible:

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Severe weather risk categories
NWS Storm Prediction Center

An isolated severe thunderstorm is possible in the dark-green shaded areas on the map. Our severe weather risk in the Twin Cities metro area will be mainly Sunday evening.

You can track showers and thunderstorms on the new interactive radar on the MPR weather page. You can pan and zoom the radar display on our site to see precipitation at your location, across all of Minnesota and western Wisconsin and beyond.

We have updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and on the MPR News live weather blog.

Sunday temps and dew points

Sunday highs will be mainly in the 80s, with 70s in northeastern Minnesota:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Sunday afternoon dew points will be in the 60s and lower 70s:

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Sunday 1 p.m. forecast dew points
National Weather Service

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. Saturday and Sunday.