Periods of rain Sunday evening into Monday morning; Warmer temps return on Tuesday
A look at rainfall potential
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We need the rain that’s in our forecast, with 80% of Minnesota still in drought.
The steadiest rainfall Sunday afternoon was in western Minnesota, but spotty showers moved through parts of eastern Minnesota in the last half of the afternoon.
A low pressure system will move slowly eastward Sunday evening and overnight, so the steadier rains will expand eastward.
Northwestern Minnesota will see scattered showers and possibly an isolated thunderstorm Sunday evening, then the rain tapers off there. Extended periods of rain are likely Sunday evening and overnight Sunday night in roughly the southern two-thirds of Minnesota and into Wisconsin. There could be some embedded thunderstorms too.
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Rain continues into Monday morning in roughly the southern half of Minnesota and in much of Wisconsin. An isolated thunderstorm is also possible.
The rain will have largely moved out of Minnesota by noon on Monday, but rain could continue into Monday afternoon from southeastern Minnesota into Wisconsin.
How much rain?
Computer models show rainfall totals of one inch or more across much of central and southern Minnesota plus parts of Wisconsin from Sunday afternoon through Monday morning.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rainfall tally from 4 p.m. Sunday to 1 p.m. Monday:
The purple shades in parts of west-central and southwestern Minnesota, the west metro and portions of Wisconsin are model rainfall totals of two inches or more.
NOAA’s High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model shows the following rain accumulation pattern for that same time period:
You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News network. Also check out the MPR News display of National Weather Service radar.
You can check these National Weather Service sites for updated weather info: Twin Cities, Duluth, La Crosse, Wis., Sioux Falls, S.D., and Grand Forks, N.D.
Severe weather outlook
The NWS Storm Prediction Center shows a marginal risk (darker green) of severe weather Sunday evening and overnight Sunday night in portions of southern Minnesota:
Marginal risk means that an isolated severe thunderstorm is possible. The Storm Prediction Center updates the severe weather outlook several times each day and night.
Temperature trends
The Sunday high temperature at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 73 degrees. That’s 8 degrees cooler than the average Aug. 13 Twin Cities high temp.
Monday will be another cool day in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Many locations will have Monday highs in the 70s, but southeastern Minnesota and portions of Wisconsin will see highs in the 60s:
High temperatures rebound on Tuesday, with 80s in most locations:
Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the mid 80s on Wednesday, then around 80 degrees Thursday followed by mid 80s on Friday. After Monday morning, the next rain chance in the metro area will be late Wednesday into Wednesday night.
We could hit 90 degrees in the Twin Cities next weekend, and above normal temps might then continue into the beginning of the following week. Here’s the August 19 through August 23 temperature outlook from the NWS Climate Prediction Center:
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.