Winter storm warnings in northern Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Overnight storms delivered a critical swath of beneficial rainfall to much of central and southern Minnesota overnight into Wednesday morning. 

You can see on the map above a long swath of 1 to 3-inch rainfall totals, with embedded 3 and 4-inch pockets running from near Alexandria into the greater Twin Cities area.

The large Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) dropped multi-inch rainfall as it moved along and south of I-94 overnight. Radars lit up with the classic arcing bow echo signature as the storms rolled through. 

rainfall totals from around Minnesota here

Here is a list of the top rainfall totals. 

The widespread heavy rainfall is good news for many parched farm fields, rivers, lakes, and lawns around Minnesota. And it comes at an important time for crops. 

Since the rain fell after the Tuesday morning cutoff, it will not be reflected in this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor update for Minnesota that will be issued Thursday morning. But 2 to 4 inches of rain will ease drought in some areas. 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Storms deliver multi-inch rainfall totals across a wide area

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox