Classic June day: Then rain & thunder overnight
This is how you draw it up on the weather maps for early June in Minnesota.
A classic June day today features plenty of sunshine, low humidity and mild temperatures. Highs will reach the upper 70s in most of Minnesota today, with 60s along the North Shore. Note to self...get the weather lab grass cut and get out and enjoy today.
Next system moves in tonight:
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
The jet stream is roaring overhead at about 20,000 feet above Minnesota these days. That means fast moving weather systems and rapid weather changes heading our way.
The next weather system will speed toward Minnesota and arrive tonight. Look for showers and thunderstorms to increase in western Minnesota this evening, and move east into eastern Minnesota after midnight. Rain should hang around into early Friday morning, but the system should move out quickly and allow a return to sunshine by Friday afternoon in most areas.
There is the potential (the hope?) for locally heavy downpours, thunder, some hail and gusty winds as the storms slide through southern Minnesota overnight. The best chance for severe weather will be along the I-90 corridor into Iowa, but there could be a few borderline severe storms elsewhere.
Heavy rain?
Forecast models are clustering rainfall totals between .50" and 1" with this next system. One model, the usually over aggressive NAM is cranking out 1.5" to 2" for the metro by Friday morning! That's likely on the high side, but it gives you the idea that there may be some locally heavy downpours if storms track over the same area.
NWS and forecast modles cranking out significant rainfall for the metro overnight.
Duluth: Warmest spring on record
Congratulations Duluth! You've just experienced the warmest spring on record. The months of March through May (meteorological spring) featured an average temperature of 45.6 degrees. This breaks the old record of 44.4 degrees set in the spring of 1977. International Falls tied with 1987 for the second warmest meteorological spring on record with an average temperature of 44.4 degrees. It fell just 0.1 degrees from the warmest spring in 1977.
My colleague Mark Seeley tells me the Twin Cities also finished with the 2nd warmest spring on record.
PH