Periods of morning rain; chance of an afternoon shower
It was a wild Wednesday evening in southern Minnesota, with multiple reports of tornado touchdowns.
This tornado was spotted near Nicollet in Nicollet county Wednesday evening:
Here's a summary of tornado reports from late Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening, courtesy of the NWS Storm Prediction Center:
The times listed are in Coordinated Universal Time, which is 5 hours ahead of CDT.
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For example, 2120 is 4:20 pm CDT.
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Mid-morning update:
Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN
830 AM CDT Thu Aug 17 2017
...PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...
.NWS Twin Cities will send two damage survey crews to survey the
tornado damage across central Minnesota from August 16, 2017...in
McLeod, Nicollet, Sibley, and Scott counties.
We'll let you know the results of the NWS survey.
NWS radar indicated debris in the air west of Prior Lake at 7:47 p.m. Wednesday.
That is one area that the NWS will investigate during their storm survey.
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Heavy rain
Many spots have seen over 3 inches of rain since late Tuesday.
Here are radar estimated rainfall amounts, courtesy of the National Weather Service:
Redwood Falls Minnesota has seen more than nine inches of rain since noon Wednesday!
That's about two months worth of rain.
At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the rainfall total was 2.04 inches yesterday through early this morning.
Some spots in the metro area, including Eden Prairie and Shakopee, reported over 3 inches of rain.
Flood warnings and watches
A flood warning continues until 7;45 a.m. this morning for several counties in western Minnesota:
Here are some warning details:
After the warning expires, those same areas will be in a flood watch until noon:
Rain tapers
Periods of rain are expected this morning in much of eastern Minnesota, the rain should taper to scattered showers during the afternoon hours.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential rain pattern:
The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the strength of the signal that returns to the radar, not to the amount of rain.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.