Feels like May; warmup ahead

Our average high temp this time of year is 84 degrees in the Twin Cities metro area. We'll be nowhere near 84 today, topping out in the lower 70s.

A lot of Minnesotans will see highs in the lower 70s this Thursday afternoon, with some 60s in the north.

These cool temps are typical for late May, not mid-July.

Warmer days ahead

Temps rebound on Friday, with some lower 80s in central and southern Minnesota, and some 70s in the northeast.

On Saturday, we'll see highs of 90 or warmer in about the southern half of Minnesota:

Most of northern Minnesota will have highs in the 80s.

Saturday afternoon will be steamy; dew points will rise into the mid to upper 60s in southern and central Minnesota:

On Sunday, high temps back off a bit, with mainly lower 80s:

Northeastern Minnesota will see Sunday highs in the 70s.

Severe weather outlook

The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows a slight risk of severe weather Saturday and Saturday night from the Twin Cities metro area through southeastern Minnesota and into Wisconsin.

The strongest thunderstorms would tend to be from late Saturday afternoon into Saturday evening.

It was an EF-1 tornado on Wednesday 

The National Weather Service has completed its survey of the storm damage that occurred early Wednesday in the northeastern part of the Twin Cities metro area.

The NWS states that it was an EF-1 tornado, with max winds of around 90 mph, that touched down near Forest Lake at 2:28 a.m. Wednesday morning. There was damage to buildings and trees, but thankfully there weren't any fatalities or injuries.

Here are the survey results, released by the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service:

...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 07/12/2017 TORNADO EVENT...

.OVERVIEW...During the early morning hours of July 12th, a line of

severe storm tracked from central Minnesota into western

Wisconsin. This line of thunderstorms created widespread damaging

straight line winds across Anoka and northern Washington counties

in eastern MN, with the damaging winds continuing into northwest

St. Croix and southwest Polk counties in western WI. Within this

broad swath of damaging winds, a concentrated path of stronger

damage was found in the Forest Lake area that was determined to be

associated with a tornado.

 

.Columbus/Forest Lake area Tornado...

Rating: EF-1

Estimated peak wind: 90 mph

Path length /Statute/: 8.8 miles

Path width /Maximum/: 300 yards

Fatalities: 0

Injuries: 0

 

Start date: July 12 2017

Start time: 2:28 AM CDT

Start location: 6 WSW Forest Lake / Anoka County / MN

Start Lat/Lon: 45.2505 / -93.0996

End date: July 12 2017

End time: 2:37 AM CDT

End location: 4 NE Hugo / Washington County / MN

End Lat/Long: 45.2000 / -92.9350

 

SURVEY SUMMARY: Tornado caused an attached garage to collapse and

destroyed a couple of out buildings to go along with mainly tree

damage along the tornadoes path.

 

Enhanced Fujita Scale:

EF0...Weak......65 to 85 mph

EF1...Weak......86 to 110 mph

EF2...Strong....111 to 135 mph

EF3...Strong....136 to 165 mph

EF4...Violent...166 To 200 mph

EF5...Violent...>200 mph

Here's the tornado path, from the NWS summary:

The timing of this tornado shows why it's good to have a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather radio nearby. A NOAA weather radio can wake you up if a severe weather warning is issued for your area.

Drought update

The latest update from U.S. Drought Monitor shows that the worst drought conditions in the U.S. are in eastern Montana and western and central North Dakota into parts of northern South Dakota:

There's a small area of moderate drought in northwestern Minnesota:

The areas shaded yellow are abnormally dry, but they aren't experiencing drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.