Light rain dampens west central Minnesota this morning

Well weather fans, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale Forecast System suggested light rain might fall overnight from Grand Forks, N.D., to Brainerd, Minn. The model only missed it by about 30 to 40 miles.

Here's a screen capture of the rain shortly after 6 a.m.

wundeground610a
Image:NOAA/Wunderground.com

The morning infrared satellite image also shows the cooler cloud tops associated with this rather minor but damp system. Note the more significant cluster of storms in the lower Mississippi Valley this morning, indicated by the green enhanced cloud tops.

sat_ir_enh_mw (8)
Image:Unisys.com

The forecast from the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model has this rain area traveling southeast during the morning hours.

Political Coverage Powered by You

Your gift today creates a more connected Minnesota. MPR News is your trusted resource for election coverage, reporting and breaking news. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.

rap1pmcdt
Simulated radar reflectivity at 1 p.m. CDT. Image:NOAA/College of Dupage

High temperatures today will likely be impacted by the cloud cover plus the persistent smoke from the Canadian wild fires transported in the northwest flow overhead.

gfsUS_250_spd_012
Jet stream winds at 1 p.m. CDT. Image:NOAA Global Forecast System Model

Hot spots as provided by Canadian Fire Weather Center.

fwih150630
Wild fire activity at the end of June 2015.

High temperatures today should fall short of the normals that are in the upper 70s to middle 80s for the first day of July.

qwdmaox

June closed out with generally near normal temperatures and precipitation in our neck of the woods. As typical with summertime precipitation events, some spots had more generous rainfall totals, others came up on the short end.

In the Twin Cities metro, for example, the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport tallied a June total of 4.4 inches of rain; at the National Weather Service Office in Chanhassen, the total was 3.66 inches of rain. Rochester picked up 4.46 inches in June.

See how soggy it was last month in Illinois into Ohio!

As Bill Endersen noted in yesterday's blog, there were a large number of severe weather reports relayed to the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center. Here's a link to all the wind and hail reports as the storms moved east yesterday.

Temperatures are forecast to trend warmer as we move to the Holiday weekend. Generally dry skies are expected for the Fourth of July.

satmax

Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center refreshed its monthly weather outlook for July.  Here it is for your entertainment.

jultempout
julpvpouyl

We'll break down the details of the rest of the holiday weekend forecast as we move through the work week.