Severe thunderstorm watch overnight Saturday night for much of northern and central Minnesota; metro thunderstorm chance overnight and Sunday

The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch valid until 5 a.m. Sunday for most of central and northern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin:

The severe thunderstorm watch does not include the 7-county Twin Cities metro area.

Details of the severe thunderstorm watch:

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED

Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 182

NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK

945 PM CDT Sat Jun 16 2018

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of

North-central and northeast Minnesota

Far southeast North Dakota

Northwest Wisconsin

Lake Superior

* Effective this Saturday night and Sunday morning from 945 PM

until 500 AM CDT.

* Primary threats include...

Scattered large hail and isolated very large hail events to 2

inches in diameter likely

Scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph possible

A tornado or two possible

SUMMARY...Storms will continue to increase in coverage and perhaps

intensity through late evening as warm advection increases to the

north of a surface boundary. Ample source-region moisture and

instability will support at least sporadic potential for severe hail

and wind into the overnight.

The severe thunderstorm watch area is approximately along and 140

statute miles east and west of a line from 65 miles northwest of

Duluth MN to 45 miles east southeast of Saint Cloud MN. For a

complete depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline

update (WOUS64 KWNS WOU2).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

REMEMBER...A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are

favorable for severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area.

Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening

weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible

warnings. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce

tornadoes.

&&

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 180...WW 181...

AVIATION...A few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to

2 inches. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 60 knots. A

few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 600. Mean storm motion vector

26025.

A tornado watch remains in effect for Traverse and Big Stone counties of far west-central Minnesota until midnight this Saturday night.

Although northern and central Minnesota are expected to see the most thunderstorm activity overnight Saturday night, the Twin Cities metro area and a few spots in southern Minnesota could see some scattered  thunderstorms and even an isolated strong to severe thunderstorm.

Updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network, and updates are also posted on the MPR News live weather blog.

This will be a good weekend to have your NOAA weather radio or mobile phone nearby for weather warnings that are issued overnight, while you are sleeping.

Travelers will want to be aware of which county they are in, because weather warning headlines typically list the county or counties being warned.

Many spots in Minnesota, including the Twin Cities metro area, will probably see showers and thunderstorms at times on Sunday and Sunday evening.

There will be some rain-free hours on Sunday too, just have a plan B in case you need to duck indoors at some point.

Here’s SPC’s severe weather outlook for Sunday and Sunday night:

Slight risk indicates that scattered severe thunderstorms are possible.

Flooding is possible

Areas that see the heaviest rain this weekend could see flash flooding.

The NWS has flash flood watches from west-central Minnesota into parts of east-central and northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin:

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.