Heat and severe threat fades tonight

The Twin Cities just can't buy a break when it comes to rainfall.

The metro is bracketed by severe thunderstorm watch boxes to the north and south today. And it looks like that's where the severe weather and beneficial soaking rains will stay.

At least the clouds and cool front sliding through tonight will break the 2 day heat wave. For the second day in a row, we've managed to hit 94 degrees in the metro. This is the 4th day of 90 degree heat this year. We see 13 days of 90 or hotter in an average year.

Look for an improving weather picture as we head through the rest of the week. The cool front coming through the metro will stall Wednesday in northern Iowa. Waves rippling along the front will trigger a round or two of thunderstorms that could run along the I-90 corridor Wednesday. Thursday looks dry and mild. More heat may build north Friday, giving us another shot at 90 degrees in the metro. The next cold front due in Friday night may trigger another round of severe storms.

We started the month of June over 7 degrees below average. The recent hot spell has us playing catch up in a big way. We are now within 2 degrees of average temperature for the month. The forecast for the rest of June looks like we may end the month very close to average.

We've gone from a high of 52 degrees in the metro on June 6th, to 94 degrees the past two days. Welcome to the land of weather extremes. Welcome to Minnesota.

PH