More heat, humidity and scattered thunderstorms through Independence Day
Summer is baring its teeth again this week as sticky heat and thunderstorms make their return.
The first order of business will be thunderstorms for northern Minnesota this Monday evening. Showers began forming in northwestern Minnesota by late afternoon.
Showers will grow into thunderstorms over west central and northwestern Minnesota and track east-northeastward toward the Arrowhead Monday evening. Scattered severe thunderstorms, mainly with damaging hail, are possible during the evening and overnight hours in the area around Wheaton and Moorhead east to Walker.
An additional concern is the threat of flash flooding in northeastern Minnesota tonight into Tuesday. That area has soggy soils from significant recent rains. Upcoming storms could drop from one to maybe four inches of rain. So a flash flood watch for the possibility of rapidly rising water has been issued from 8 p.m. Monday into Tuesday morning for the area generally from Brainerd and Little Falls to Grand Rapids, Babbitt and on northeast to the Canadian border.
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Muggier Tuesday
Tuesday will be another toasty day with dew points increasing from the south. Expect high temperatures from the upper 70s in the far northeast to the upper 80s. Some scattered thunderstorms are likely, mainly across the north.
Independence Day
Wednesday will be the red-letter day of the week, and not just because it is a great national holiday. The heat will be on and dew points will become tropical again.
Highs on Wednesday should range from the warm low 80s to the hot low 90s. And the dew points will really get your attention Wednesday afternoon. Dew points will climb into the 70s except for in the slightly drier northwest and northeast corners of the state. Central and southern Minnesota, including the Twin Cities area, could see dew points reach the very sultry mid 70s.
There will be thunderstorms. While outflow boundaries from previous rounds of storms will partly dictate where Wednesday's storms will originate, it looks as though thunderstorms are most likely to develop first in northwestern Minnesota, then spread eastward and build to the south. Thunderstorms are most likely in the Twin Cities area beginning in the late afternoon or evening.
Some thunderstorms will be strong and could become severe on Wednesday. So know what county you are in as weather warnings are issued by counties and parts of counties.
Abundant rain for the north
When we add up the upcoming rain, the greatest 3-day totals for Minnesota are likely to be from the middle of the state to the north. Also note the very heavy rain forecast for coastal Louisiana thanks to a tropical disturbance tracking along the Gulf Coast.
