Soggy Wednesday, brighter warmer weekend ahead

The first waves of rain rolled into Minnesota overnight as expected. The initial burst put down some .30- to .80-inch rainfall totals.

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Overnight rainfall totals via CoCoRaHS

Heavier rainfall tonight

The core of our inbound low-pressure wave crosses Minnesota Wednesday evening. That's when the heaviest concentrated bands of rain and thunder ride in.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model captures the essence of an arc of heavier rain riding in with the parent low-pressure system this evening.

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NOAA via tropical tidbits.

Multi-inch rainfall totals

Many locations are already on the way to an inch of rain. The overall notion of 1- to 3-inch rainfall still looks valid across a good chunk of Minnesota by later Thursday.

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Drier and warmer weekend 

We come up for air later Thursday and Friday. The weekend right now looks sunnier, and warmer.

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NOAA via Weather Bell

Eclipse 2017

Next Monday is still too far out for accurate cloud predictions locally. But most models suggest a low pressure system may bring considerable cloud cover to parts of the Midwest. The best adds to see the eclipse according to model data as of now? Just north of Kansas City, Mo., into southeast Nebraska.

Here's the Canadian GEM model total cloud fraction forecast for 1 p.m. next Monday.

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Canadian GEM model cloud cover forecast via pivotal weather.

Stay tuned.