Impressive Sunday storm visuals; severe risk returns tomorrow
Sunday's massive thunderstorm complex blew up rapidly delivering hail, high winds, soaking rains and an impressive light show.
Here's video as the storm rolled through Albert Lea.
Zero to 60
Storms took time to get going Sunday thanks to a "capping" layer of warm air aloft. Once the cap broke, storms fired rapidly in a matter of minutes.
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By evening the storms morphed into what we call an MCS, a Mesoscale Convective Complex. The large storm complex mushroomed over southern Minnesota last night. GOES 16 captured the abrupt atmospheric explosion.
Scattered damage
Most of Minnesota got off lucky last night, but large hail from baseball to grapefruit size nailed Winthrop west of the Twin Cities.
Wicked lightning
The storms produced nearly continuous lightning south of the Twin Cities. That's a sign of intense atmospheric updrafts in severe storms. I captured this shot from Victoria looking south last evening.
Tornado reports
There were two tornado reports near Lake Crystal just southwest of Mankato.
High winds took down this barn near Lake Crystal.
Corn fields are also flattened in the area, a sign of winds likely at least 70 mph.
Quiet today
Minnesota is in-between storms today. Our next chance for sever weather arrives by tomorrow night.
NOAA's NAM 3 km model paints storm complexes rolling across Minnesota again Tuesday night.
In the meantime we enjoy a lightly less humid day today, before dew points surge into the 70s again tomorrow. Highs in the 80s this week feel a lot like mid-summer.
Stay tuned.