Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Scattered rain, thunderstorms Saturday; shower chance Sunday in southern MN

SW Minnesota flood watch Saturday afternoon into early Sunday

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Blossoms on the trees Friday along Minnehaha Parkway in Minneapolis.
Ron Trenda | MPR News

North-central and northeastern Minnesota look mainly dry Friday evening and overnight. Northwestern Minnesota could see a few scattered showers and an isolated thunderstorm.

The southern two-thirds of Minnesota and portions of western Wisconsin will see rain at times Friday evening and overnight Friday night, with a few thunderstorms possible.

Saturday and Sunday rain outlook

The Minnesota Fishing Opener begins at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and Mother’s Day is on Sunday, so there’s plenty of interest in the weather this weekend.

Periods of rain are likely in much of southern and central Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin Saturday and Saturday night. There will be some thunderstorms too.

The steadiest rains Saturday and Saturday evening are expected in southwestern and south-central Minnesota, with more intermittent rain elsewhere. After sunrise on Sunday, the rain chance will be mainly in far southern Minnesota.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from 4 a.m. Saturday to 7 p.m. Sunday:

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NAM simulated radar from 4 a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model shows the following rain pattern from 4 a.m. Saturday to noon on Sunday:

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HRRR simulated radar from 4 a.m. Saturday to noon Sunday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

Heavy rain could cause flooding in parts of southwestern Minnesota Saturday afternoon into Saturday night, so a flood watch has been issued for several counties:

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Flood watch (green) from 1 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday
National Weather Service

Here are details of the flood watch in portions of southwestern Minnesota, which begins Saturday afternoon:

Flood Watch National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN 101 PM CDT Fri May 12 2023 .Another round of heavy rainfall, with localized areas receiving over 4 inches of rain, will be possible Saturday afternoon and Saturday night in and around southwest Minnesota. This is the same region that saw widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches Wednesday night into Thursday morning. These recent heavy rains combined with the snow melt from a few weeks ago has left soils in this region saturated and susceptible to seeing flooding with any heavy rainfall. MNZ064-073-074-082-131015- /O.NEW.KMPX.FA.A.0001.230513T1800Z-230514T1200Z/ /00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/ Yellow Medicine-Redwood-Brown-Watonwan- Including the cities of New Ulm, Redwood Falls, Granite Falls, and St James 101 PM CDT Fri May 12 2023 ...FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING... * WHAT...Flash flooding caused by excessive rainfall is possible. * WHERE...Yellow Medicine, Redwood, Brown, and Watonwan counties in southwest Minnesota * WHEN...From Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning. * IMPACTS...Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations. Creeks and streams may rise out of their banks. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - Rounds of heavy rainfall could produce totals of 2 to 3 inches, with isolated locations receiving in excess of 4 inches. This will lead to the possibility of flash flooding. - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... You should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to take action should Flash Flood Warnings be issued.

You can find updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News network. You can also check the following National Weather Service sites for updated weather info: Twin CitiesDuluthLa Crosse, Wis., Sioux Falls, S.D., Grand Forks, N.D.

Weekend temperatures

The average Twin Cities high temperature is 68 degrees on May 13. Twin Cities metro area highs are forecast to be around 70 on Saturday. Northern Minnesota will see a lot of 70s Saturday afternoon, with mainly 60s to the south and also in western Wisconsin:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

There will be some 50s near Lake Superior.

Sunday highs will reach the 70s in many areas, including the Twin Cities:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

There will be some 60s Sunday afternoon in far southern Minnesota, western Wisconsin and near Lake Superior.

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the mid 70s on Monday, followed by upper 70s Tuesday, mid-70s Wednesday then lower 70s Thursday and upper 60s on Friday.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.