Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Becoming windy with spotty showers; thunder develops Wednesday afternoon

Expect mainly dry conditions for most of Thursday into the weekend

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Forecast precipitation 9 a.m. through 9 p.m. Wednesday
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, via Pivotal Weather

Wednesday will be cooler, less humid and windy in the wake of last night’s cool front. We’ll see lingering instability, however, with spotty afternoon showers and some thunder. 

Tuesday night saw rain, spotty severe weather

There were scattered wind damage reports Tuesday night in nearly each part of the state as storms developed ahead of a cold front. The highest wind gust recorded was 64 mph in the Fillmore County town of Wykoff in southeastern Minnesota.

There was also a 61 mph gust in Mounds View in the north Twin Cities metro.

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Storm reports over the past 24 hours
National Weather Service

Much of the state saw more rainfall as rivers are already rising due to saturated soils. Several spots saw more than 2 inches, but the rainfall was highly variable.

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24 hour estimated rainfall
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

Lingering instability Wednesday behind cool front

Dew points have dropped from Tuesday, making for more comfortable conditions. We’ll see sunshine to start with highs warming into the upper 70s south to low 70s north.

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Forecast highs Wednesday
National Weather Service

Winds will crank up as even cooler air continues to flow into the state Wednesday. Winds will blow at 10-25 mph from the west with gusts up to 30-40 mph.

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Forecast wind gusts 6 a.m. through 8 p.m. Wednesday
College of DuPage weather lab

There’s a wind advisory for southern and western Minnesota Wednesday afternoon and evening.

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Wind advisory 2 p.m. through 7 p.m. Wednesday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

With colder air moving in aloft and sun for the first half of the day, we’ll see spotty, pop-up showers and a few thunderstorms develop for portions of the region. 

wed prec 8a
Forecast precipitation 9 a.m. through 9 p.m. Wednesday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

There’s a marginal risk (level 1 of 5) of severe weather. A couple storms could produce some brief, high wind gusts and large hail this afternoon and evening.

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Severe weather outlook for Wednesday: marginal (level 1 of 5) risk
NOAA Storm Prediction Center, via Iowa State University

Those showers will diminish after sunset. It’ll be cool and comfortable Wednesday night with lows falling into the 50s south and 40s north.

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Forecast lows Wednesday night
National Weather Service

Thursday will be cooler yet with highs ranging from the low to mid-70s southwest to just 50s northeast. There could still be a pop-up shower or two in northeastern Minnesota. 

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Forecast highs Thursday
National Weather Service

We’re in for a nice dry stretch of weather overall for most into the weekend and early next week with seasonable temperatures ranging from the mid-60s north to mid-70s south.