Showers, storms early this morning and tonight
Tonight main concerns are gusty winds and the potential for hail
ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – A change of pace this morning as thunderstorms sweep through the region. This morning many of us in Faribault and Waseca first saw the storms and they are now currently rolling into Dodge, Mower, and Olmsted counties. Right now, the main concerns are the potential for gusty winds, heavier rain, and lighting, but if you are along or north of the I-90 corridor you will see the storms through the mid to late morning hours.
The first round of rain came primarily through late Friday night into the early morning hours today. Those showers and storms brought some much-needed rainfall throughout the region. Before an update, south of Interstate 90, the town of Osage saw over an inch of rain, and Cresco, in Howard County, saw over .6″. Those storms have moved NE into Wisconsin at this time. After the storms roll through late morning you can find the potential for stray showers, with the possibility of a storm, pop up through the early afternoon hours with overcast skies. Tonight, you can find the bulk of the storms come through SE Minnesota and northern Iowa.
The main concerns are windy conditions out the SE around 18 mph with gusts peaking into the low 30s along with some small hail. I do anticipate these to be more widespread tonight with the possibility of them being severe. The timing right now will be towards the western counties in the 5 p.m. hour and making their way into Olmsted County near 7 p.m. The storms will continue to push through our area into the later hours of Saturday and become more isolated around the 1 a.m. hour, in Olmsted County, based on the latest model guidance.
The showers will continue through Sunday morning with overcast skies. Sunday’s outlook will be the potential for on and off showers through the afternoon and evening hours. There is the potential for nonsevere thunderstorms that can develop with these showers. Monday the remnants from the lower pressure system that will be north of us will have some stray to isolated showers and by Tuesday afternoon we should be dry. Through the weekend we should receive over an inch of rain in portions of SE Minnesota and northern Iowa, while on the lower end of the spectrum, some areas could see up to a half inch of rain.
Today is also the first day of fall better known as the Autumnal Equinox. On this day the Earth is neither tilted towards nor away from the sun and everywhere on the planet will receive 12 hours of daylight and darkness. The sun will be directly overhead the equator at noon and the refraction, or bending of light causes us to have equal amounts of daylight and darkness across the globe. The origin of the word equinox comes from the Latin words aequus, meaning equal, and nox meaning night. During the Summer Solstice, the sun will be directly overhead the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere, signaling the longest day of the year. During the Winter Solstice, the sun will be overhead the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere, which will be the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.
Next week will be dry with temperatures above average still for the end of September. It is likely high temperatures will be above average into the beginning of October based on the latest predictions from the Climate Prediction Center.
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