A welcome, soaking rainfall Monday morning; rainy Election Day ahead

It’s not enough to bust a drought, but the skies have finally opened up with some welcome rainfall across parts of Minnesota. Our next wave of rain is on the way for Election Day.

Monday morning’s rain wave brought between 0.50 and 0.85 of an inch to much of southern Minnesota.

Here are some select rainfall totals observed so far Monday, measured in hundredths of an inch:

• Caledonia, 0.85

• Waseca, 0.77

• Albert Lea, 0.76

• Owatonna, 0.71

• Glencoe, 0.69

• Moorhead, 0.65

• Rogers, 0.62

The Twin Cities has picked up 1.26 inches of precipitation including our Halloween storm. Many locations across southern Minnesota have recorded between 1 and 2 inches of rain in the last week. That won’t end drought conditions but it will begin to recharge parched soils.

Election Day rain ahead

Our next weather system rolls northward into Minnesota form Iowa on Election day.

Rainfall will begin in southern Minnesota in the morning hours. It’s likely to spread into the greater Twin Cities area between about 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Tuesday.

It will rain on and off around much of Minnesota Tuesday. Much of the rain will be light, but a few local downpours are likely within the overall rain system.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s NAM 3 km model shows the system sliding through Minnesota between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday. It may be just cold enough for a few wet snowflakes from western into northern Minnesota.

The system could lay down an inch of rainfall across parts of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities. Much of Iowa, Wisconsin, and parts of Michigan will also see rainfall on Election Day.