Showers and thunderstorms at times

Our dry weekend was well-timed, wasn't it?

We're now into a wet weather pattern.

Our Monday afternoon showers and thunderstorms have moved on, but we'll probably see another round of showers and thunderstorms overnight Monday night into very early Tuesday morning.

Additional showers and thunderstorms will probably develop late Tuesday and linger into the overnight hours Tuesday night.

Much of Minnesota will have some periods of showers and thunderstorms right through Wednesday evening.

This isn't a good time to paint a deck or have a big garage sale!

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale Forecast system model shows the potential rain pattern for the next few days:

The loop indicates the general rain/thunderstorm pattern, but thunderstorms will probably occur in some areas that look to be free of rain in the loop.

Severe weather outlook

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10 p.m. update:

The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch valid until 3 a.m. Tuesday for much of southern Minnesota:

The severe thunderstorm watch includes the far southern portion of the Twin Cities metro area.

Another look at the watch:

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The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows an enhanced risk of severe weather over south-central and southeastern Minnesota during the overnight hours Monday night into very early Tuesday morning:

The enhanced risk area brushes the far southern part of the Twin Cities metro area.

Much of the metro area and also southwestern Minnesota are included in a slight risk of severe weather overnight and very early Tuesday morning.

Enhanced risk means that numerous severe thunderstorms are possible in a given area, while slight risk means that scattered severe thunderstorms are possible:

Much of southern Minnesota is in the slight risk category for severe weather Tuesday and Tuesday night:

Minnesota Public Radio will keep you updated on the weather.

Updated weather information will also be posted on the MPR news live weather blog.

You can also check with the Twin Cities office, Duluth office, La Crosse WI office and Sioux Falls, SD office of the National Weather Service for weather updates. The NWS sites have clickable maps for the forecast at your specific location.

Updated severe weather outlooks and details on any severe weather watches are available from the Storm Prediction Center of the NWS.

Planting progress

The crop report released today by the United States Department of Agriculture shows that Minnesota farmers made a lot of planting progress in the past week:

Warm and dry weather across Minnesota improved field conditions during the week ending May 14, 2017, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.   The 6.3 days suitable for fieldwork allowed for rapid planting progress.  Forty-nine percent of the total corn acreage, 43 percent of the soybean acreage and 28 percent of the spring wheat acreage was planted during the week.  Every crop’s planting progress, with the exception of sunflowers and dry beans, had advanced beyond their respective 5-year averages.

Corn planting is now much closer to being finished:

Corn planting was 84 percent completed, 8 days behind last year.  Twenty percent of the corn has emerged, 5 days behind average.  Soybeans were 47 percent planted, 6 days behind last year.

That dry stretch came at a great time.