Excessive heat Monday, severe storm risk through Monday night

A combination of extreme heat and humidity is producing some eye-opening heat index readings Monday across Minnesota. Check out the forecast maximum heat index values on the map above.

There is a growing risk for severe storms as we move through the late afternoon and evening hours. An enhanced risk for severe storms covers most of central and southern Minnesota through Monday night.

First the heat. Temperatures around 90 degrees combined with dew points in the 80s in some areas of Minnesota are producing heat index values topping 100 degrees. Minnesota is on the northern end of an extreme heat dome.

Dew point levels are off that charts and well into the 80s across parts of Minnesota Monday.

The dew point in Preston, Minn., reached 86 degrees around midday Monday. That’s just 2 degrees shy of the all-time state record of 88 degrees in Moorhead set on July 19, 2011.

Severe risk

The enhanced risk zone Monday covers just about all of central and southern Minnesota:

Storms will rumble across the eastern Dakotas and western Minnesota this afternoon, then move toward the Twin Cities area Monday evening.

Afternoon storms in west-central Minnesota already have the eye of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center. They assess a 40 percent chance for a severe weather watch.

Most forecast models suggest storms are most likely to reach the Twin Cities between about 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model shows storm clusters moving through central Minnesota into the Twin Cities this evening. The loop below runs between 2 p.m and 10 p.m.

Additional storms could arrive early Tuesday morning.

Stay tuned for possible severe weather watches and warnings through Monday night!