North Metro flood; Rain pushes east. Spectacular Wednesday ahead!
Now that's a gully washer! Definitely some "hair washing" downpours in much of central and eastern Minnesota tonight.
NWS is getting reports of some flash flooding as expected. Expect some standing water, especially in the north metro tonight.
MPX: Spring Lake Park [Anoka Co, MN] law enforcement reports FLASH FLOOD at 07:52 PM CDT -- road impassable due to high water at 81st and hwy 65.
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MPX: Fridley [Anoka Co, MN] law enforcement reports FLASH FLOOD at 07:56 PM CDT -- university ave impassable due to high water between 73rd and osborne. local sewers are backing up due to excessive run off.
MPX: Osseo [Hennepin Co, MN] law enforcement reports FLASH FLOOD at 07:12 PM CDT -- residential street flooding in Osseo. Some roads impassable due to high water.
MPX: 8 Nw Princeton [Mille Lacs Co, MN] law enforcement reports FLASH FLOOD at 06:02 PM CDT -- water washed over county road 6 near the intersection of county road 6 and 55th street. Nearby culvert washed out.
Check out the NWS doppler storm total rainfall image below. You can see two main west-east bands of heavy rainfall that produced 1" to 2"+.
One runs from St.Cloud to Princeton.
The second runs along Highway 12 from near Atwater through Dassel, Cokato and into the north metro.
Rain will gradually taper off from west to east tonight.
Look for a clearing trend after a chance of some morning fog.
A fresh puff of dry comfortable Canadian air will deliver a spectacular day on Wednesday! Look for highs in the 70s north to near 80 south, with a fresh northwest breeze at 10-20 mph and plenty of sunshine!
PH
Update 6:45pm:
The Huttner Weather Lab in Deephaven has recorded .50" of rainfall in 15 minutes! Rain easing up now....
Also 2" of rain in Waverly in Wright County!
MPX: Wsw Waverly [Wright Co, MN] trained spotter reports HEAVY RAIN of M2.10 INCH at 06:43 PM CDT --
PH
Update 6:30pm:
Heavy rainfall spreading east through metro now. Flash Flood Warning continues until 8pm.
[image]
MNDOT traffic cams show heavy rain along I-35W at Lexington in the north metro.
Update 5:00 PM:
Twin Cities NWS has issued a flash flood warning that includes the NW half of the metro.
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
456 PM CDT TUE AUG 16 2011
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE TWIN CITIES HAS ISSUED A
* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
ANOKA COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...
EAST CENTRAL MEEKER COUNTY IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA...
ISANTI COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...
NORTHERN AND CENTRAL HENNEPIN COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...
NORTHWESTERN CHISAGO COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...
SHERBURNE COUNTY IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA...
SOUTHEASTERN BENTON COUNTY IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA...
SOUTHERN MILLE LACS COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...
WRIGHT COUNTY IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA...
* UNTIL 800 PM CDT
* AT 452 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS THE
WARNED AREA. RAINFALL RATES OF 2 TO 4 INCHES PER HOUR CAN BE
EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS. THIS WILL BE OCCURING DURING THE
EVENING RUSH HOUR.
* RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING TO
OCCUR. SOME LOCATIONS THAT WILL EXPERIENCE FLOODING INCLUDE...
BUFFALO...CAMBRIDGE...MINNEAPOLIS...NORTH BRANCH...PLYMOUTH...
PRINCETON...ALBERTVILLE...ANDOVER...ANNANDALE...ANOKA...BECKER...
BIG LAKE...BLAINE...BODUM...BROOKLYN CENTER...BROOKLYN PARK...
CEDAR...CHAMPLIN...CIRCLE PINES...CLEAR LAKE...CLEARWATER...
COKATO...COLUMBIA HEIGHTS...COON RAPIDS...CORCORAN...CRYSTAL...
DALBO...DASSEL...DAYTON AND DELANO.
[image]
Look for storms with locally heavy rainfall to increase in (especially the northwest half of) the metro in the next 1-2 hours.
PH
Update 4:15pm:
A band of showers & T-Storms continues to slide east through Minnesota through this evening. So far the storms have been pretty tame, garden variety rain producers.
The strongest storms will stretch from near Duluth southward along I-35 through 6pm.
[image]
Severe weather parameters are running pretty low, and a good batch of debris clouds ahead of the system is likely to prevent any kind of widespread severe outbreak.
Still, a warning or two is possible with some of the stronger storms.
Expect a few scattered showers and T-Storms in the metro this evening, but the threat for severe storms seems to be diminishing at this time.
PH
Update 2:55pm:
Storms are still very tame on doppler, and no indications (mesoscale discussions) of a watch from SPC yet. Strongest storms heading for Lake Mille Lacs may produce some .50" hail along with heavy downpours and lightning.
A few garden variety showers & storms will enter far west metro in the next hour, but they do not look severe at this point.
NWS discussion below.
SHORT TERM FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
234 PM CDT TUE AUG 16 2011
MNZ041>045-048>052-055>061-065-066-068-162100-
DOUGLAS-TODD-MORRISON-MILLE LACS-KANABEC-POPE-STEARNS-BENTON-
SHERBURNE-ISANTI-SWIFT-CHIPPEWA-KANDIYOHI-MEEKER-WRIGHT-HENNEPIN-
ANOKA-RENVILLE-MCLEOD-CARVER-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ALEXANDRIA...LONG PRAIRIE...
LITTLE FALLS...PRINCETON...MORA...GLENWOOD...ST. CLOUD...FOLEY...
ELK RIVER...CAMBRIDGE...BENSON...MONTEVIDEO...WILLMAR...
LITCHFIELD...MONTICELLO...MINNEAPOLIS...BLAINE...OLIVIA...
HUTCHINSON...CHASKA
234 PM CDT TUE AUG 16 2011
.NOW...
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS PORTIONS OF WEST
CENTRAL AND CENTRAL MINNESOTA THROUGH 400 PM...AND BEGIN ENTERING
EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA. AT 230 PM A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS
EXTENDED FROM THE STAPLES MOTLEY AREA...TO SAUK CENTRE AND
MONTEVIDEO. THE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 25 TO 30 MPH TOWARD
LAKE MILLE LACS... LITTLE FALLS...AND WILLMAR.
OTHER STORMS WERE ALSO DEVELOPING AROUND ST CLOUD AND LITCHFIELD.
MORE STORMS WILL ALSO BE DEVELOPING AND MAY MOVE INTO THE WESTERN
AND NORTHERN TWIN CITIES METRO.
THE STORMS COULD PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL
UP TO ONE HALF INCH.
$$
Update 2:20pm:
Our cold front is on schedule today, and it's sparking some scattered storms in central Minnesota.
[image]
So far there are no watches or warnings, and the storms have been fairly tame. But they are producing heavy downpours with some gusty winds and lightning.
It still looks like the best window for metro storms will be between 4pm and 7pm tonight.
SPC maintains a slight risk for severe storms in Minnesota through tonight.
Stay tuned...we'll have extra coverage on KNOW 91.1FM in the metro and on all MPR news stations as needed today.
PH