Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

A quiet day, less humid

According to the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service, at least four tornadoes touched down in central Minnesota early Monday evening.

Thankfully, only one injury has been reported, and no fatalities.

Their summary this morning:

On Monday evening July 11, 2016 thunderstorms produced at least four tornadoes across central Minnesota.  The National Weather Service in the Twin Cities will be sending out storm survey crews to assess the damage.  As of early Tuesday morning, there has been only one minor injury reported.

Based on the preliminary storm reports, areas hardest hit were the town of Watkins MN, northwest Litchfield MN, as well as locations near St Cloud MN.

One feature of modern National Weather Service radar is the ability to sometimes see debris that is tossed into the air by tornadoes. The blue area on this Correlation Coefficient scan from National Weather Service radar shows the "debris ball" from the Watkins, Minn., tornado on Monday:

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NWS Twin Cities

More NWS info on the Monday tornadoes can be found here .

Much more info, including numerous storm damage photos, can be found on the MPR News live blog here .

Flooding rains

Some incredible rainfall totals were reported on Monday. Brainerd, Minn., and Hinckley, Minn., reported about 9 inches, and the heavy rains affected an area from central Minnesota into northwestern Wisconsin.

Here are radar indicated rainfall totals for Monday:

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NWS Duluth

Ten inches of rain may have fallen just north of Brainerd. The red areas are 5 inches or more, with the darkest red indicating 8 inches of rain.

A flood warning is in effect until Sunday afternoon for the Mississippi River at Aitkin, Minn. The river will reach flood stage this morning, then rise about another 5 feet.

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National Weather Service

Updated river level info for the Aitkin location can be found here.

Less humid

The cool front has moved through, and westerly breezes will be with us today and tomorrow:

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Scattered showers are possible over northwestern Minnesota later today.

Highs will be cooler than yesterday over southern Minnesota:

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And dew point temperatures will be in the comfortable 50s by this afternoon:

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Highs will be in the 80s in the Twin Cities on Wednesday, then cool to the upper 70s for Thursday and Friday.

We should rebound into the lower 80s for weekend high temperatures.

I hope that you enjoy your Tuesday!