A wet and windy Wednesday

A strong storm moving in from the Dakotas is impacting Minnesota with showers, storms and winds that will increase into the afternoon.

Wednesday’s forecast

A potent storm, with its center of low pressure currently over South Dakota, is already pushing some heavy rain and a few thunderstorms into the southwestern corner of Minnesota as of 7 a.m.

The wet weather will impact the Twin Cities by the later part of the morning commute, as the rain continues to spread east and north through the morning.

Showers and occasional storms then continue in southern Minnesota into the afternoon.

The low pressure of the storm will clip northwestern Minnesota, meaning rain persists north through the evening, then diminishes overnight Wednesday.

Because of the storm track, western Minnesota is likely to see the most rain, with some totals of up to an inch (and isolated higher amounts under persistent storms), while most of the state gets between a tenth of an inch and half an inch.

The strong pressure change associated with the storm will cause high winds throughout the day, with gusts over 40 mph expected for much of the state.

With mostly cloudy skies overnight and a southeasterly flow ahead of the storm, morning temperatures are very mild for mid-October, with most of the state in the 50s and a couple 40s north.

However, the clouds and rain keep the state from warming too much, with highs in the 50s north and 60s south. Still, this is 5 to 10 degrees above average.

Even cooler air moves in behind the storm, and much of the state could see frost over the weekend.

That extended forecast will be updated around 9 a.m.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.