Biggest Minnesota hail in 38 years fell Wednesday; summery weather returns
Summery temperatures return Friday and Saturday.
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It appears Wednesday’s storms dumped Minnesota’s biggest hailstones in 38 years.
Pending verification, Wednesday hailstones near Chokio approached the state record for the largest hailstones of 6 inches in diameter. The corrected NWS hail size is 5.7 inches.
Six inch diameter hailstones have been recorded twice in Minnesota. The massive hailstones fell near Reading northwest of Worthington in 1986. Similar size hail fell near Elgin in southwest Minnesota in 1968.
Severe wind gusts were recorded with Wednesday’s storms. Here are some select wind gust reports.
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Vergas 73 mph
Alexandria area 66 mph
2 ENE Redwood Falls 60 MPH 0833 PM 07/31
U.s.71 - Clarissa - Mp 197.5 53 MPH 0240 PM 07/31
Gibbon 53 MPH 0915 PM 07/31
Crystal AP 52 MPH 0553 PM 07/31
Olivia AP 51 MPH 0836 PM 07/31
2 NNW Little Falls 50 MPH 0310 PM 07/31
Morris AP 48 MPH 0615 PM 07/31
The storms also dumped heavy rainfall between 3 and 6 inches across much of southern Minnesota.
The Twin Cities generally picked up between 1 and 2 inches of rainfall.
Summer returns
Sunshine and hotter temperatures return Friday and Saturday. Highs will be near 90 degrees once again.
Next week looks cooler and less humid. NOAA’s medium-range outlooks favor cooler-than-normal temperatures through the next 14 days!
Get ready for a taste of September.