Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Nice spell of summer weather expected this week

After record or near-record rainfall in the month of June, precipitation has tailed off for some portions of the state. July saw below normal precipitation for parts of central and southern Minnesota. From St. Cloud to Rochester, many locations were nearly 2 to 2.5 inches below normal for July.

Meanwhile it was another wet month for far northern Minnesota. International Falls tallied 4.58 inches of rain for July.

Climate data for July 2014 for the Twin Cities and St. Cloud is provided by the National Weather Service.

This graph from the National Weather Service in La Crosse, Wisconsin, shows the well below normal rainfall for Rochester during the month of July.

July_RST_Precip
July rainfall Rochester, MN. Image:National Weather Service

Complete climate summaries for Rochester and LaCrosse are provided by the NWS LaCrosse, Wisconsin Office.

m07_14.pperc
Departure from normal for July 2014. Image:Midwest Regional Climate Center

Showers and thunderstorms rumbled through parts of central and northern Minnesota on Saturday and Saturday night. To the favor of concertgoers at Target Field for the performance by Paul McCartney, the rain ended prior to showtime.

pcpnsatnight
Twenty-four precipitation ending at 7 a.m. CST Sunday. Image:Midwest Regional Climate Center.

Last evening was a great example of an isolated thunderstorm dumping generous rain at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where two thirds of an inch of rain was recorded.

20140803_203200-1 (1)
Thunderstorm near viewed in the east Metro from Eden Prairie around 830 p.m. CST. Photo:Craig Edwards

The radar display for approximately the same time shows the single small thunderstorm.

stpstorm
Radar image from Wunderground.com

Notice the outflow boundary in the narrow yellow line and the shower trying to form northeast of Cannon Falls. Some of the lighter green color is ground clutter or mid-level clouds where precipitation is not reaching the ground.

A few isolated showers are possible this afternoon, with the best chance for rain in southeast Minnesota. This image depicts the simulated radar for 3 p.m. Data is  provided  from the HopWRF model out of the Twin Cities National Weather Service Office.

wrfarw3-1kmsimrad-14
Simulated radar reflectivity from the HopRwf model . Image National Weather Service Chanhassen.

The National Weather picture shows  active weather along the Gulf Coast.

[image]

[image]

High temperatures for this afternoon should be quite comfortable.

max4aug
Maximum temperatures expected today. Image:National Weather Service.

The expected rainfall for the first part of the week is sparse for much of Minnesota. Far southern Minnesota has the best chance for seeing welcome showers Tuesday night and Wednesday.

rainfallpcpn3day
Image:National Weather Service.