Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Summer flashback Tuesday afternoon, storm chances Tuesday night

Weather models suggest possible thunderstorms late this evening

Severe weather risk areas Tuesday
Severe weather risk areas Tuesday.
Twin Cities National Weather Service office

Welcome to Aug-tober.

Tuesday’s temperature map is more typical for late August. The average high for Oct. 11 in the Twin Cities is 60 degrees. We’ll be closer to 80 degrees Tuesday afternoon.

Temperatures Tuesday afternoon
Temperatures Tuesday afternoon
Oklahoma Mesonet

In the Twin Cities, 80 is the average high temperature between Aug. 19 and Aug. 23.

Enjoy our one-hit-wonder summer flirtation.

Thunderstorm threat Tuesday night

A more typical October cold front sweeps through Minnesota Tuesday night. Short-range forecast models suggest a few thunderstorms will develop along the frontal zone. The latest model runs have pushed the timing back a little later Tuesday evening.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s NAM 3 km model is typical of forecast solutions that develop a narrow line of thunderstorms just west of the Twin Cities between about 9 p.m and 10 p.m..

NOAA NAM 3 km model
NOAA NAM 3 km model between 9 p.m Tuesday and 1 a.m. Wednesday
NOAA, via Tropical Tidbits

If that timing works out, we could see thunderstorms sweep into the greater Twin Cities area between about 10 p.m. and midnight as the front blows through.

Marginal severe risk

The risk for severe weather with the Tuesday night storms is pretty low, but not zero. A few cells could produce hail around 1 inch in diameter, and wind gusts that push the severe threshold of around 60 mph.

NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center paints a marginal risk zone for eastern Minnesota and most of Wisconsin:

Severe weather risk areas
Severe weather risk areas
NOAA

Enjoy our summerlike day and evening. But keep an eye out for possible strong to severe storms later this evening.