Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Two bow echoes in 11 hours; calmer weather Tuesday and Wednesday

Labor Day weekend looks beautiful

radar
Radar snapshots from the two, separate severe storms Monday evening and early Tuesday morning
College of DuPage weather lab

We’ll have lingering instability Tuesday but no additional severe weather. Wednesday will be dry. More showers develop Thursday ahead of another cool front.

2 bow echo storms produced severe weather

It started Monday evening with storms in west-central Minnesota. The initial storms produced two possible funnels in Kerkhoven and Essig. The storms then organized into a bow echo, sweeping through the Twin Cities metro in the evening, producing severe wind gusts. The highest was 65 mph in Silver Lake in McLeod County.

svr reports MN
Severe weather reports from Monday and Tuesday
National Weather Service

Storms then developed in South Dakota and Nebraska and swept into southwestern Minnesota toward the Twin Cities. The storms were not severe for several hours but just before reaching the southwest metro the storms started to form a bow echo with severe gusts.

Deephaven had a 59 mph gust then 61 mph at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. St. Paul picked up a 64 mph wind gust. Storm damage continued through the east metro and into western Wisconsin.

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Severe weather reports from early Tuesday morning (blue dots are all wind damage/gusts)
National Weather Service

In addition to the wind damage, many areas received heavy rainfall. Atwater Minn., in Kandiyohi County picked up 2.71 inches. South Minneapolis received 2.63 inches.

At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, 0.74 of an inch was picked up with the first round of storms with an additional 0.99 of an inch from the early morning round.

Quieter, but instability lingers Tuesday

We do not expect any severe weather Tuesday but there will be some lingering showers in northern Minnesota. Some pop-up, instability-driven thunderstorms could develop late in the afternoon and evening due to some peeks of midday sun.

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Forecast simulated radar 9 a.m. through 11 p.m. Tuesday
College of DuPage weather lab

Temperatures will be cooler, near 80 degrees south and 70s north Tuesday afternoon.

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Forecast highs Tuesday
National Weather Service

Wednesday will be mostly dry with partly cloudy skies. Highs will range from near 80 south to just the upper 60s northeast.

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Forecast highs Wednesday
National Weather Service

Dew points will still be muggy in the 60s and low 70s across southern Minnesota but considerably better than Monday. The real drop in dew points will come late in the week behind a second cool front.

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Forecast dew points 7 a.m. Tuesday through 7 a.m. Friday
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, via Pivotal Weather

That second cool front will touch off scattered showers and thunderstorms Thursday.

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Forecast precipitation 7 p.m. Wednesday through 7 a.m. Friday
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, via Pivotal Weather

All of the active weather is out in time for the holiday weekend. Friday through Monday look dry statewide with lots of sunshine.

Friday and Saturday will be seasonable with highs near 80 south and low to mid-70s north but additional cooler air will drop temps Sunday and Monday into just the low 70s south with 60s north.