Minnesota’s in for a nice transition to autumn

For the most part we enjoyed a rather nice weekend. Thunderstorms swept through with gusty winds, brief downpours and spotty hail on Saturday afternoon and evening, but prior to the storms, we were treated to warm sunshine and pleasantly warm temperatures.

The high temperature in Minnesota topped out at 78 at St. Cloud and 83 at Redwood Falls on Saturday afternoon. It was a delightful 77 degrees in the Twin Cities prior to the arrival of thunderstorms, that dropped the temperature about 15 degrees in 30 minutes.

Strong winds accompanied the line of thunderstorms through  Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.  Some trees and branches were reported down in Victoria to the west of the Twin Cities metro area.

Winds gusted to over 50 miles per hour at St. Cloud, decreasing to about 40 mph when they arrived in the Twin Cities.  The wind gusts were posted by the National Weather Service in Chanhassen. Gusty winds were also reported in southeast Minnesota.

Willmar reported  nearly three quarters of an inch of rain on Saturday.  I tallied only 0.18 inch, while St. Paul measured about a third of an inch. Duluth was drenched with slightly more than a half inch of rain.

Rain delayed the start of the Twins game at Target Field Saturday evening, while lightning interrupted the Gopher game at TCF Stadium.

Head groundskeeper for the Twins Larry DiVito commented that this was an ideal rain delay as the rain started about an hour before game time.  The  infield was protected from the third of an inch of rain that fell in 45 minutes.

The ground crew had the field ready for play a half hour after the rain ended.

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The autumnal equinox occurs at 9:29 p.m. and Mother Nature is serving  up for an ideal display of comfortable temperatures and vivid fall color.

A weather system is expected to swing through southern Minnesota on Tuesday afternoon and night and may dump a quarter inch of rain in southwest and south central Minnesota.

Here's the forecast of the rain potential from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Forecast System model from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Tuesday.

As MPR News meteorologist Paul Huttner noted last week, it appears will we likely close out September with a run of above normal temperatures.  The normal maximum/minimum for Sept. 25 at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is 68/48 degrees.