Heaviest rains shift south

Thunderstorms dumped more than half a foot of rain Wednesday evening over parts of the north metro, as well as a section of southern Minnesota.

Here are radar estimates of storm totals, from the Twin Cities National Weather Service office in Chanhassen:

Radar estimated rainfall was over 6 inches from Maple Grove through Brooklyn Park in the northern part of the Twin Cities metro area. A trained spotter reported 7.15 inches in Maple Grove Wednesday evening, and there was a public report of 9.86 inches near Maple Grove.

Other areas of very heavy rain extended from Mankato through much of Waseca county, and from Rochester to Winona in southeastern Minnesota.

Heaviest rains shift south

The front has shifted south, and the heaviest rains today will tend to be over northern Iowa, but scattered thunderstorms are still possible over southern Minnesota.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale 4 km resolution forecast model shows the general rain pattern today through Saturday morning:

The National Weather Service continues a flash flood watch from the far south metro through parts of southern Minnesota until 7 p.m. today. Much of south central and southeastern Minnesota remains in a flood warning until later this afternoon:

Mankato, Albert Lea and Rochester are among the cities in the flood warning.

The Twin Cities NWS will update the watches and warnings as we go through the day.