Gorgeous day coming Tuesday as storms ebb
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Some widely scattered thunderstorms have been popping up in the heat of the day in Minnesota, mainly across the northern part of the state. They will diminish quickly this evening.
After sunset, look in the western sky and enjoy the lovely 34 percent waxing crescent moon as well as a bright Jupiter and Venus appearing rather close together.
Tuesday will be a gorgeous June day with seasonable high temperatures from the mid 70s to low 80s. Dew points will be considerably lower compared to Monday.
Early in the day today, widespread thunderstorms raced across much of Minnesota.
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Rainfall amounts have been coming in gradually throughout the day. Some of these are from official government sources, such as airports, but many are from volunteer observers. All it takes to measure rain accurately is a decent plastic rain gauge and a site away from building and vegetation influences.
The gauge shown below is a typical cylinder-in-a-cylinder gauge that allows rainfall to be read to the nearest hundredth of an inch. Note that the gauge extends well above the top of the mounting post and that the top of the mounting post is cut on a bevel to prevent rain from splashing into the gauge.
Rainfalls around the metro area ranged from less than a half inch (Crystal Airport got just 0.41 inches) to a few readings in excess of 2 inches. South St. Paul Airport received 2.29 inches, thanks to a particularly heavy cell that crossed Dakota County and dropped hail in Lakeville.
Across southern Minnesota where several bands of very heavy rain followed each other eastward, the highest report I have seen was 4.5 inches in New Richland. Breaking the 3-inch mark were 3.3 inches in Albert Lea, Minn., and 3.8 inches near Ellendale, Minn.
After they exited Minnesota, this huge batch of storms raced across Wisconsin and Michigan toward southern Ontario this afternoon. All the storms have had abundant lightning.
Our next chance of thunderstorms should approach on Wednesday and possibly continue into Thursday. While the models differ as to who will get significant rain, the best chance for strong or even severe weather will likely be in southernmost Minnesota.
