Severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings issued for Twin Cities metro area

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A flood watch has been issued again for southern Minnesota from the Twin Cities area south into Iowa (see the image above).

Our next waves of potentially heavy rainfall arrive Thursday night through Saturday morning. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale 3 km model shows the likely progression of multiple waves of rain and thunderstorms across southern Minnesota between Thursday night and Saturday morning.

The forecast model loop below runs between 7 a.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Saturday. 

Rainfall totals between 2 and 4 inches will be common across southern Minnesota including the greater Twin Cities area. Local totals across southern Minnesota could reach 5 to 6 inches. 

The good news? Most of flood-ravaged northern Minnesota will see less than an inch of rain.

Much of Minnesota has seen 5 inches to more than 10 inches of rainfall in the past few weeks. That’s two months’ worth of rain in some areas. 

All that water is running into major watersheds. 

 and will reach major to near record flood stage over the next week.

The Crow River in Delano west of the Twin Cities is forecast to reach the second-highest flood stage on record early next week:

The Mississippi River at St. Paul is forecast to reach major flood stage at 19.1 feet. That’s the highest level since 2019.

The forecast models suggest we may finally dry out starting Sunday. Plenty of sunshine will boost temperatures into the 70s and 80s Sunday.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

More heavy rainfall waves are likely across southern Minnesota through Saturday morning.

Flood watch again; another 2-6 inches of rain possible by Saturday

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