Yesterday’s cold front that moved through Minnesota brought with it the end of the oppressive heat and humidity that the Twin Cities metro area and points southward have experienced the last couple of weeks where we saw record high temperatures tied at MSP. It will also be the end of the streak of rain and damaging winds that the Lakeville/Farmington area experienced.
A secondary system, a trough of low pressure, will move across the state today, bringing with it the end of the humid spell for a while. There will be isolated storms some could be severe, but the setup is very marginal today and widespread activity is not expected later today. Anything that does pop will occur towards the evening hours. Hail and winds will be the greatest threats from any of the stronger storms.
The Storm Prediction Center, which keeps record of storm reports for the U.S. has a preliminary tally of 116 tornado touchdowns in Minnesota this year. This is amazing! Who would have thunk that a location in the northern continental part of the country would have more tornadoes than Texas, which has a count of 87. The number may be dwindled down a bit as research from storm surveys are done by the six National Weather Service offices (Twin Cities, Duluth, La Crosse, WI, Sioux Falls, SD, Aberdeen, SD, and Grand Forks, ND) that serve the state. Looking at the map, there seems to be a couple local concentrated “tornado alley” pockets. The first one is around the Alexandria area and a second near Albert Lea. It’s been an odd year to say the least considering Minnesota had not seen a single tornado for the year as of mid-June! The severe weather season will be winding up here shortly and then it will be the arrival of the “s” word, which for some people cheer while others dread. Ah, winter.
Enjoy your weekend.
RS
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