Monday tornado damage in southern Minn.; warming trend this week

It was indeed a soggy Memorial Day from the southern half of Minnesota into western Wisconsin.

Here are the rainfall totals from Monday through Monday night:

You can see that the highest rain totals were in southeastern Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin. Parts of the Twin Cities metro area were in the 1.50 to 2.50 inch range.

The official rainfall tally at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 1.83 inches, which made it the rainiest Memorial Day in the Twin Cities since the holiday was moved to the last Monday in May in the early 1970s.

Monday tornadoes

There were also some tornado reports in Minnesota on Monday.  Here are some nationwide Monday afternoon tornado reports, from the Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service:

Times are in universal time, which is five hours ahead of central daylight time, so 1707 equals 12:07 p.m. and 1853 is 1:53 p.m. etc.  The four tornado reports from Fillmore County were probably from one single tornado.

The National Weather Service says that the tornado that damaged some farm buildings yesterday afternoon in Fillmore County near Greenleafton, was an EF-0, with winds about 85 mph. I have not seen a rating yet on the small tornado that knocked down trees around noon yesterday in Freeborn county, near Glenville.

Here are photos of damage to farm buildings and a wind turbine near Greenleafton, Minnesota via the National Weather Service La Crosse, Wis., office.

No injuries or fatalities were reported from the tornadoes in Minnesota. The preliminary NWS survey of Monday's tornado damage in Minnesota and far northern Iowa can be found here.  The NWS summary included this statement:

Temperature trends

Most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will see highs in the 60s Tuesday afternoon, but some lower 70s are expected in portions of northwestern and north-central Minnesota.

High temps reach the 70s in much of northern and central Minnesota on Wednesday:

Some spots in the metro area could touch 70. Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the mid to upper 70s Thursday and around 80 on Friday. We could reach the mid 70s Saturday, followed by lower 70s on Sunday.

Rain chances

Far southern Minnesota could see some scattered showers at times this Tuesday. The shower chance expands a bit northward Tuesday night and lingers into Wednesday morning, with an isolated t-storm also possible.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential rain pattern Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday:

The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the strength of the signal that returns to the radar, not to the amount of rain. It will rain in some areas that look dry in the NAM loop, but the loop illustrates the general rain pattern.

Rivers are rising

Recent rainy weather has caused river levels to rise again across much of southern Minnesota, and rivers have reached flood stage at many locations.

You can click on any location on the NWS Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service  (AHPS) site to get hydrographs of recent and forecast river levels. Some locations list levels in feet above sea level, others list levels in feet above a local reference point.

Here’s the Tuesday morning hydrograph for the Mississippi River at St. Paul:

You can see that the Mississippi River will reach moderate flood stage at the St. Paul location Tuesday afternoon and then rise about another 12 inches by Friday.

The lower portions of many trees on the eastern side of Raspberry Island were underwater Tuesday morning:

There are flood warnings along some rivers in Minnesota. You can get flood warning updates by clicking on any green-shaded location on the National Weather Service Twin Cities website.

Here’s how the NWS map looked Tuesday morning:

Projected river levels are updated on a regular basis, so check back to the AHPS site and the National Weather Service point forecasts for the latest info on the rivers near you.

If you’d like to scroll through hydrographs along a certain river in central or southern Minnesota, check here.