Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Here comes the rain: Waves of soaking rainfall through Friday

Multi-inch rainfall totals likely across parts of central, southern Minnesota

Heavy rainfall outlook
Heavy rainfall outlook
Twin Cities National Weather Service office

June looks ready to remind us it’s the wettest month of the year on average in Minnesota. A slowly moving weather system will drop a few waves of rain across our region through Friday.

The first wave is working through western Minnesota this Wednesday afternoon. Severe cells near the Iowa border have produced winds of 60 mph with trees down in northern Iowa.

More docile showers will spread showers into the Twin Cities and eastern Minnesota through this evening.

On the map below, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s FV3 model tracks the lead rain wave through southern Minnesota through 10 p.m. Wednesday. Cells near the Iowa border could be severe.

NOAA FV3 model 2
Finite­-Volume Cubed-Sphere Dynamical Core model between 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. Wednesday
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, via Pivotal Weather

Main event Thursday night

The bigger rainfall event with this system will cross central and southern Minnesota Thursday night into Friday morning. A cluster of thunderstorms with locally heavy rainfall looks likely.

NOAA’s FV3 model is typical of many that bring the heaviest cells through Minnesota Thursday night into early Friday morning. For the Twin Cities, it appears the heaviest rains could favor the wee hours of Friday morning into the morning rush hours.

The forecast model loop below runs between 1 p.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. Friday.

NOAA FV3 model
Finite­-Volume Cubed-Sphere Dynamical Core model between 1 p.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. Friday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

There’s still large forecast model variation in precisely where the heaviest rain zone will set up. It’s typical to see multiple spatial solutions for these summertime mesoscale systems.

NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model lays a multi-inch band of rainfall right through the greater Twin Cities area by late Friday:

NOAA HRRR precipitation output
High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model precipitation output through Friday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

Models from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and NOAA’s Global Forecast System lay the heaviest rain zone north of the Twin Cities through central Minnesota.

European (ECMWF) model precipitation output
Precipitation output through Friday
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, via Pivotal Weather

On the map below, NOAA’s FV3 model splits the solution, with the heaviest rain core from the northern Twin Cities into central Minnesota. Could this be the sweet spot?

NOAA FV3 model precipitation output
Finite­-Volume Cubed-Sphere Dynamical Core model precipitation output through Friday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

Stay tuned as we tweak the path of the heaviest rainfall through Thursday night.

Father’s Day weekend looks sunnier and drier with highs warming through the 70s.

Forecast high temperatures Sunday
Forecast high temperatures Sunday
NOAA