Heat advisory in effect Wednesday and Thursday after beneficial rains

Updated 9:30 a.m.

Skies are clearing as the last lingering thunderstorms move out of southeastern Minnesota Wednesday morning. A heat advisory is in effect midday Wednesday through Thursday evening for the Twin Cities and much of central Minnesota into western Wisconsin.

Becoming hot again Wednesday

Overnight storms brought beneficial rainfall and some severe weather. The last showers are moving out of southeastern Minnesota Wednesday morning with rapid clearing west to east.

There was a scattered path of wind damage and high wind gusts starting in west-central Minnesota late Tuesday evening into southeastern Minnesota by the early morning hours Wednesday.

A large swath of heavy rain fell, bringing much needed moisture to portions of west-central, south-central and southeastern Minnesota. Up to 3 inches fell near the Willmar area with 1 to 2 inches falling through New Prague, Northfield and into Zumbrota.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport received 1.01 inches of rain while St. Paul picked up 1.45 inches. It was the heaviest precipitation in the Twin Cities since rain and snow fell on March 31.

On the radar estimated rainfall map below, I’ve circled the three main areas of severe drought You can see most severe drought stricken areas were largely missed, but Olmsted County faired better with more rainfall from the lingering storms early Wednesday.

For reference, the map below shows last week’s drought monitor for Minnesota. The updated drought monitor will come out early Thursday but will not include last night’s rainfall data in it yet.

Temperatures will soar again into the 90s, with muggy dew points, making for a heat index that will be in the mid to upper 90s. Morning cloud cover may limit temperatures some in the east but it will still be hot.

A heat advisory goes into effect at 10 a.m. Wednesday through 8 p.m. Thursday for much of east-central and south-central Minnesota into western Wisconsin, including the Twin Cities area.

Thursday again looks hot with highs back in the mid to upper 90s south and heat index values back near 100 or perhaps into the low 100s.

Once again, any thunderstorm development and residual cloud cover could limit temperatures some in a few places. These are low end and high end potential high temperatures:

The heat index is the key figure for both days as those readings could reach or slightly surpass triple digits in southern Minnesota both Wednesday and Thursday afternoons:

In addition to the heat, air quality could once again be a concern due to ozone for much of the Twin Cities and surrounding areas in the afternoon hours Wednesday and Thursday. The storms may have washed out some pollutants which could help limit ozone some Wednesday.

Check the latest air quality conditions, alerts and forecasts here:

Here are air quality forecasts for the next couple of days:

Thunderstorm chances, heat relief ahead

The next chance of storms comes for the northern half of the state late Wednesday evening into the overnight. Later in the day Thursday will again bring the chance of some spotty storms in central and southern Minnesota with a chance statewide Friday as cooler air moves into the region.

The activity on Friday comes as cooler air moves in for the weekend. If you’re expecting a big drop in temperatures you’re out of luck, but we should be under 90 degrees for a few days.