Heavy Friday Morning Rain - Severe Threat Friday Evening/Night

Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms impacted the metro during the morning commute on Friday, bringing another 0.5-2" (or more) of rain across the region. My personal rain gauge in the northwest metro picked up just over 2.5" of rain from these repeated, training storms - with plenty of thunder to wake me up out of bed.

Forecast loop from 7 PM Friday to 7 AM Saturday.
As we head into Friday evening and the overnight hours, another round of showers and storms - some of which could be strong - is expected to pop from southwestern Minnesota to the North Shore. This will also bring another round of heavy rain with it, and Flood Watches are in place around the Twin Ports for the potential of 2"+ which could lead to flooding (especially on top of the heavier flooding rains earlier this week).


The Flood Watch Friday Night is in place for areas like Hinckley, Duluth, Two Harbors, and Silver Bay, where the heaviest rain could fall.

And a few of those storms Friday evening and overnight could be on the strong side, with hail and wind the main threats, from Sioux Falls to Duluth.
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Fall Color Update

We continue to see a good portion of the state between 25-75% fall color according to the latest update from the Minnesota DNR Fall Color Finder. However, Itasca State Park is the first one statewide to pop into the 75-100% color category, reporting Thursday that "Colors are moving towards the peak as paper birch, aspen, and oaks begin to add color. Big-tooth aspens are starting to add a bright red-orange color in the canopy. Trembling aspen are beginning to turn bright yellow-gold. The deep gold of paper birch is appearing. More red oaks are turning deep red-brown to bright red-orange. Bur oaks are adding a soft camel tan-brown color. Ironwoods are turning a deep gold. Pops of deep red, bright orange, and yellow-gold are mixed throughout the forest as red and sugar maples peak. The khaki-yellow color in the balsam poplar leaves can still be seen. American basswoods are a soft butter-yellow color as they now peak. Black ash is moving past peak. Two- and 3-year-old needles are turning gold and shedding from white pine. The fourth-year red pine needles turn reddish-brown before dropping."
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