Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Showers south with some peeks of sun Thursday. Cold Friday and Saturday

Very windy conditions persist through Saturday

winds THU
Forecast winds Thursday 6 a.m. through 5 p.m.
College of DuPage weather lab

Updated 9 a.m.

Scattered showers will fall mainly in southern Minnesota Thursday morning. Many will see at least peeks of sun. Winds increase once again and remain blustery through Saturday.

Showers south Thursday; more wind through Saturday 

More rain is falling across portions of southern Minnesota Thursday. Rainfall will be lighter than Tuesday’s downpours and will wrap up by late morning and afternoon. Northern Minnesota will see afternoon flurries.

Snow showers will reignite in northern Minnesota Friday.

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Forecast precipitation 7 a.m. Thursday through 10 p.m. Friday
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, via Pivotal Weather

Some slushy accumulation is possible up north into Friday night.

snow MN
Forecast potential snowfall Friday into Friday night
National Weather Service

The wind increases yet again by the afternoon at 15-30 mph from the west. The gusty winds will persist into Friday and Saturday. 

winds THU
Forecast winds Thursday 6 a.m. through 5 p.m.
College of DuPage weather lab

We should see a narrow window of some sunshine for central Minnesota midday Thursday. Clouds will largely be locked in place for Friday and Saturday, especially in the afternoon hours due to a cold, unstable atmosphere aloft. Sunnier skies return Sunday.

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Forecast cloud cover 7 a.m. Thursday through 1 p.m. Sunday
College of DuPage weather lab

Highs Thursday will be in the 50s south to 40s north thanks to some peeks of sunshine midday.

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Forecast highs Thursday
National Weather Service

Colder air is moving in for Friday and Saturday.  Highs Friday will be in just the 30s and 40s.

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Forecast highs Friday
National Weather Service

This will set us up for a couple of cold nights Friday and Saturday nights with overnight lows in the 20s to near freezing.

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Forecast lows Friday night
National Weather Service

Sunshine returns Sunday along with warmer temperatures and lighter winds.

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Forecast highs Sunday
National Weather Service

Next week will overall be warmer. 

New drought report doesn’t include recent rain

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The latest drought monitor: this does not include rainfall after 7 a.m. Tuesday
National Drought Mitigation Center

Thursday’s U.S. Drought Monitor report is unchanged due to the heaviest rain falling in central Minnesota, over areas already removed from drought and abnormally dry categories. Also, the data cutoff for each Thursday’s update is 7 a.m. Tuesday, so the new report does not include Tuesday and Wednesday’s rainfall.

Unfortunately, most of the severe drought region in north-central and northwestern Minnesota missed the more significant rainfall, but southeastern Minnesota did receive some decent rains.

tue-wed rains
Rainfall reports from Tuesday through Wednesday in southeastern Minnesota
National Weather Service

Most of Freeborn, Mower, Fillmore and Houston counties which are in moderate to severe drought did receive more than 1 inch of rainfall Tuesday into Tuesday night. In addition, those areas also saw rainfall Thursday morning, up to three-fourths of an inch, estimated by radar.

radar est
Radar estimated rainfall for Wednesday night through 8 a.m. Thursday
RadarScope

All of this could point to some significant improvement in next Thursday’s drought conditions report for southeastern Minnesota.