Prompts winter weather advisories as cold air moves in Friday night

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The radar is finally showing some promising colors Friday around Minnesota. A weak frontal system is triggering scattered garden-variety thunderstorms across much of Minnesota. 

 above shows the storms with local downpours and plenty of lightning as we move through mid-afternoon Friday.

The storms are still localized, but they are dropping some nice downpours if your lawn or farm field is fortunate enough to get under one of these cells. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s short-range mesoscale models continue the trend of scattered storm waves popping up though Saturday. 

NOAA’s FV3 model is typical of those that generate a few waves of thunderstorms across our state through Saturday evening. The forecast model loop below runs between 6 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday.

A few storms Saturday could reach severe limits with large hail and damaging winds across southern Minnesota. The Twin Cities is included in the marginal risk zone. Southern Minnesota has a slightly higher risk. 

The best chance for significant rainfall still favors the northern half of Minnesota through the upcoming weekend. NOAA’s Global Forecast System model is in the middle of rainfall output solutions for the Twin Cities area with around an inch in many locations. 

Multi-inch rainfall totals look quite possible across northern Minnesota.

Remember summer convective rainfall is usually highly localized, so eventual precipitation totals often vary greatly over short distances. 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Scattered garden variety thunderstorms are dropping welcome rainfall in some areas.

Scattered thunderstorms increasing Friday across Minnesota

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