The Weather Blog
Daily weather updatesCalmer Wednesday Before More Storms (And Severe Weather?) Thursday
Shelf cloud on the leading edge of the storms Tuesday evening. Image: Nikky Lehtola
Wind gust/damage reports over the past 24 hours ending 7:20 pm July 5th. Note: reports near Fargo are from Monday evening.
- 3 SSW South Haven – 71 mph
- Kimball – 70 mph
- 1 E Zemple – 70 mph
- 1 N Paynesville – 69 mph
- 2 ESE St. Paul – 67 mph
- 1 WNW Maple Grove – 64 mph
- 1 S Eden Prairie – 61 mph
As of the time that this was posted Tuesday evening, severe storms were still ongoing across parts of the state, so more reports are likely to come in.
Tornado/funnel cloud reports over the past 24 hours ending 7:20 pm July 5th.
- Morris 1 SSE: 5.23″
- Morris COOP: 4.51″
12 hour rainfall totals ending 7:30 PM Tuesday evening.More heavy rain fell across a wider area with the storms Tuesday evening. This was a snapshot of the 12 hour precipitation values as of 7:30 PM Tuesday evening (note: rain was still falling at the time this was taken). There were reports in the metro of over a half an inch in a short amount of time as the storms moved through – and even 2″ at the Crystal airport. Due to this heavy rain, flooding was reported in parts of the metro Tuesday evening.
Rain over the past 14 days through Tuesday morning.As you can see, though, many areas of the state need the rain. Most of the Twin Cities has seen less than an inch of rain over the past 14 days, with some of the closest 2″ amounts occurring in far southern Minnesota, north of Pine City or out where the rain fell near Morris Monday Night. The only areas that have seen above average rain in the 14 days ending Tuesday morning was out in west-central Minnesota and in far northern Minnesota.
Vacation? I don’t need no stinking vacation. “Honey, you said the sun would be out by 3 pm. What happened?” Shrug. “Wait, I thought the storms wouldn’t arrive until after 7 pm. How did that happen?” my wife demanded. Deep sigh. “You promised a nice lake day! I can’t have all these people in my cabin. I’m very disappointed.” Stand in line. Hey, I’m OFF. Can’t we just be surprised, like everyone else? Meteorologists are on, 24/7 – even when they don’t want to be.
WEDNESDAY: Sunnier and drier. High 87. Low 69. Chance of precipitation 10%. Winds NE 5-10 mph.
THURSDAY: More showers and T-storms. High 83. Low 64. Chance of precipitation 70%. Winds E 8-13 mph.
FRIDAY: Breezy & cooler. Leftover showers. High 76. Low 58. Chance of precipitation 40%. Winds NW 15-25 mph.
SATURDAY: Bright sun, comfortable humidity. High 79. Low 64. Chance of precipitation 0%. Winds E 5-10 mph.
SUNDAY: Sunny and warmer. High 83. Low 70. Chance of precipitation 10%. Winds SE 10-20 mph.
MONDAY: Sticky sun, PM T-storms. High 88. Low 71. Chance of precipitation 50%. Winds S 10-20 mph.
TUESDAY: Few more storms, then slow clearing. High 84. Low 70. Chance of precipitation 40%. Wind SW 5-10 mph.
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This Day in Weather History
July 6th
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Average Temperatures & Precipitation for Minneapolis
July 6th
Average High: 84F (Record: 104F set in 1936)
Average Low: 64F (Record: 49F set in 19472)
Average Precipitation: 0.12″ (Record: 2.83″ set in 2015)
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Sunrise/Sunset Times for Minneapolis
July 6th
Sunrise: 5:34 AM
Sunset: 9:02 PM
*Length Of Day: 15 hours, 27 minutes and 46 seconds
*Daylight Lost Since Yesterday: ~1 mins & 5 secs
*Next Sunrise That Is Before 6 AM: August 3rd (6:01 AM)
*Next Sunset That Is Before 9 PM: July 11th (8:59 PM)
Wednesday And Beyond Minnesota Weather Outlook
After the warm day we saw Tuesday, temperatures will dip back to near the average for much of the next week. Models don’t really hint at a warm up (a return of the 90s) at the moment until the middle of the month.
Some strong to severe storms are possible Wednesday across the Ohio Valley with a line of storms expected to form. Elsewhere, we’ll be watching showers and storms across the northern Rockies into the North Central United States. A cool front will be working into the Northwest late Wednesday Night, bringing the chance of showers to places like Seattle by Thursday.
Severe risk Wednesday. Dark green – marginal threat. Yellow – slight threat. Orange – enhanced threat.
Large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes are possible Wednesday afternoon and evening across parts of southern/western South Dakota and northern Nebraska. Storms will be most likely after 4 PM MT in these regions and could pack a punch like the storms did in our region Tuesday.
GFS rainfall forecast through Sunday morning. Green = 1″+, yellow = 2″+, orange = 3″+, red = 4″+. Image: AerisWeather.
Image: Iowa Environmental Mesonet.Taking a look at our friends to the south, in parts of the state the lack of rain is becoming an issue. In some areas, it’s taken a whole month to accumulate an inch of rain, particularly northwest of the Ames area. More from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet: “Rainfall has been difficult to come by for parts of Iowa this summer. The featured map displays the number of days prior to Monday before an inch of precipitation is accumulated. This is computed for each pixel within the NOAA MRMS Q3 precipitation product. This map nicely highlights the very dry conditions that have persisted especially to the north and west of Ames. The orange color represents four to five weeks of time over which only an inch has accumulated. There is some hope for heavy rainfall this week, but the heat will be back in a big way as well.”
Beautiful Thunderstorm Picture
Have you seen this picture floating around social media of a thunderstorm taken from the air? The photo was taken by pilot Santiago Borja, and the Capital Weather Gang has more on it: “This is by far one of the most striking thunderstorm photos we’ve seen. Taken from a plane at the moment of a lightning flash, it illustrates both the ferocity of a turbulent atmosphere and the beauty of Mother Nature. A strong, roiling updraft; a smooth, flat anvil; and the overshooting top — all features of intense developing thunderstorms.”
Thanks for checking in and have a great Wednesday! Don’t forget you can follow me on Twitter (@dkayserwx) or on Facebook (Meteorologist D.J. Kayser)!
–D.J. Kayser