Flood watch much of southern Minnesota through Sunday morning; Mostly dry Sunday

Areas of rain have been spreading northward across much of the southern two thirds of Minnesota on Saturday. Most of the rain from the Twin Cities area northward has been rather light and will rain itself out as we go through Saturday evening and into the overnight hours.

Flooding possible south into Sunday

Much of southern Minnesota has been playing a different game. Showers and some thunderstorms have been surging northward out of Iowa where the weather energy has concentrated. Heavy rain has been falling on mainly southwestern and south central Minnesota where the ground was already soggy from multiple inches of rain in recent days.

A flood watch remains in effect through Sunday morning for much of southern Minnesota, including Marshall, Redwood Falls, Fairmont, Albert Lea, Mankato and Owatonna.

Showers and thunderstorms, some with heavy rain, will continue Saturday night across much of southern Minnesota, but the rainfall intensity should diminish after about midnight. Flash flooding of streams, creeks and low-lying areas will be possible.

Small chance of severe weather far south

Severe storms with a couple brief tornadoes developed across Iowa Saturday afternoon. Some strong storms could spread into southwestern Minnesota. The marginal risk (level 1 of 5) of severe weather extends just barely into the southern edge of Minnesota into Saturday evening, so the risk is low.

Drier for Mother’s Day

Showers from this plodding weather system are likely to linger in parts of southern Minnesota Sunday morning. The rest of the state will see clearing skies, or at least thinning clouds, from north to south as the day progresses.

The chilliest high temperatures for Sunday are likely to be in the far south from Worthington to Austin, Rochester and Winona where rain and thicker clouds will linger and highs should be just in the low 60s.

In contrast, shorts-and-sandals weather will treat moms across the north where highs are likely to reach the mid 70s in places such as Baudette, Hallock, Bemidji and International Falls under all-day sunshine.

The Twin Cities area should see decreasing clouds and highs near 70.

Pleasant most of next week

Next week should be quite pleasant with no weather extremes. Temperatures will be rather normal. One wrinkle might be a sharp trough in the weather pattern to bring showers on Thursday and usher in some cooler temperatures for Friday. But nothing snowy or icy.