Prompts winter weather advisories as cold air moves in Friday night

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Heavy thunderstorms dumped 2 to 5 inches of rain on parts of Minnesota Wednesday. Deep tropical moisture (dew points in the 70s) produced prolific flooding downpours.

The heavy downpours created instant waterfalls along Highway 61 and flooding around Grand Marais on the North Shore of Lake Superior.

Several inches of rainfall occurred across central and northeastern Minnesota.

Below are some select rainfall totals from Wednesday. These are preliminary reports and new reports will come in.

We’ll see a few stray thundershowers though Thursday morning in eastern Minnesota but the main flood and severe weather threat has shifted south and east of the Twin Cities. 

Flooding and severe weather is still possible for southeast Minnesota including Interstate 90 and southeastern Minnesota into western Wisconsin.

Another wave of smoke blows into Minnesota behind the cold front. The 

 alert covers most of Minnesota including the Twin Cities through Friday. Here are the details from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency:

Sump pumps across Minnesota will appreciate a drier forecast ahead. Looks for more sunshine through some smoky skies into the weekend. Highs will dial back into the 80s south and 70s north for Thursday. 

High will climb through the 80s through Saturday. By Sunday, the steamy tropical air mass returns with high around 90 in the south once again.

A cold front may bring storms by later Sunday. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model brings much cooler air with highs in the 70s and dew points in the 50s by the middle of next week.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Wednesday's torrential rainfall caused flooding in many locations around Minnesota. we’ll see more sun into the weekend. But a new air quality alert has been issued for much Minnesota. 

Wednesday deluge causes flooding; drier days ahead

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