Severe Threat Continues Thursday Night - Calmer Weather Returns For The Fishing Opener

The multiple rounds of storms that rumbled across the region on Wednesday brought heavy rain with them, at times with 1-2" per hour reported. MSP set a record for Wednesday with 1.94" of rain falling - the previous record was 1.55" in 1935. The top airport rainfall report was in Buffalo, where 3.87" was reported. Meanwhile, a Granite Falls COOP observer reported a daily rainfall of 4.68" through 8 PM Wednesday. A CoCoRaHS observer out in Prinsburg (Kandiyohi County) reported 5.16" as of 6 AM Thursday.

These storms also brought multiple rounds of severe weather with them. This hail in St. Michael was from the afternoon round of storms that hit on Wednesday.

We had numerous severe weather reports across the state on Wednesday (the map above shows only Midnight to Midnight Wednesday). The peak wind gust reported was 79 mph near Morristown. Meanwhile, 2.5" diameter hail was reported near Oronoco, near Plainview, and in Big Lake. We also saw several flooding reports within the metro and up toward Detroit Lakes. Below was the scene at Allianz Field, where the soccer pitch flooded due to the heavy rain.

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1" hail in St. Cloud from Thursday - Credit: Alex Kayser

More rounds of strong to severe storms rumbled through the region as we went through Thursday. Above is a picture of quarter-sized hail from my brother Alex up in St. Cloud. Other areas in and around the St. Cloud region saw even larger hail, with 1.75"-2" hail reported (including the image in the tweet below).

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More storms are likely as we head through Thursday evening into at least the early night timeframe, especially west of the Twin Cities, and we could once again see ANOTHER round (or two) of severe weather out of them before they die off as they move closer to Wisconsin.

A Moderate Risk (threat level 4 of 5) is in place for Thursday evening/night across western Minnesota, with an Enhanced Risk (threat level 3 of 5) extending east to the Twin Cities. Out toward that Moderate Risk area will be the highest potential for large to very large hail, damaging winds of 75+ mph, and a few tornadoes. As the threat moves closer to the Twin Cities damaging winds become the main threat.

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The great news is that we see Mother Nature "slow her roll" as we head into Friday. We'll see the slight chance of a lingering early morning shower or storm Friday before we see mostly sunny skies for much of the day. Temperatures will warm from the mid-60s in the morning to the mid-70s in the afternoon hours.

Dewpoints will be on the decrease, so it'll feel less sticky as we head through the day. They'll drop from around 60F in the early morning to the upper 40s in the afternoon.

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Just in time for the Fishing Opener, we are seeing a lot more ice outs being reported on northern Minnesota lakes. Ice out was reported on both upper and lower Red Lake as of Tuesday.

The Lake Vermilion fishing report from Tuesday reported: "The majority of the lake is open! That's right…OPEN WATER. There are some areas that might have ice still floating around however, the weather is in our favor. We anticipate the ice will be completely off by the opener; But only mother nature will know!"

The Lake of the Woods fishing report, also from Tuesday, reported: "On the south end… The ice is deteriorating and moving around on the big body of water called Big Traverse Bay. Will it all be gone by the Saturday, May 14th Minnesota Fishing Opener? Time will tell, but there is already plenty of prime open water to fish nonetheless."

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Make sure you apply that sunscreen heading out on the lake on Saturday, as we should see a mix of sun and clouds to mostly sunny skies across much of the state. A few isolated showers might be possible in the afternoon in parts of northern Minnesota. Highs will be in the 60s and 70s.

Especially as you head northward on Saturday you may notice a chop on the lake with a south-southwest to west wind gusting up to/above 20 mph, even reaching 30 mph in some locations at times.

Temperatures on Sunday will be cooler vs. Saturday for the second day of the opener weekend, with the chance of some scattered afternoon showers or thunderstorms across much of the state (a slight chance - not everyone will see rain). Temperatures will range from the upper 50s up by Lake of the Woods to the 70s as you head into southern Minnesota.

Another breezy day is possible Sunday with westerly wind gusts of 20-25 mph causing a little bit of a chop on the lakes.

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And the cooler trend will continue, with the majority of highs in the 60s and 70s as we look at the extended forecast which starts to stretch into the Memorial Day weekend.

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Welcome To A Calmer, Gentler Atmosphere
By Paul Douglas

It's May, as in it MAY warm up. This last week has been the atmospheric equivalent of a shotgun wedding. First 70 last Friday. First 80 on Monday. Much of southern Minnesota baked in the 90s yesterday. All in one week! Payback for a wretched April?

Rapid warming left our skies irritable and severe. I'd like to order a warm front without tornadoes, please. I'll pay extra.

A cooler front pushes a volatile front to our east, treating us to a fine Friday and a pretty nice Fishing Opener with metro readings in the mid-70s and lower humidity; low 70s on Sunday. Expect 60s up north with a few PM pop-up showers. Not bad, all things considered.

Looking ahead I see fine, siren-free weather ahead, with a run of 60s & 70s. No tennis ball size hail, flooded intersections or beeping TV screens. I'm OK with that.

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Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

FRIDAY: Partly sunny, pleasant. Wake up 67. High 78. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SW 10-20 mph.

SUNDAY: Sunny with low humidity. No complaints. Wake up 52. High 72. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind W 10-15 mph.

MONDAY: Sunny and pretty spectacular. Wake up 51. High 68. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind NW 10-20 mph.

TUESDAY: Few clouds, showers stay south. Wake up 48. High 64. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind NE 7-12 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Plenty of sunshine, milder. Wake up 46. High 71. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind S 5-10 mph.

THURSDAY: Clouds increase, breezy. Wake up 54. High 69. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind SE 10-20 mph.

Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
May 13th

*Length Of Day: 14 hours, 46 minutes, and 53 seconds
*Daylight GAINED Since Yesterday: 2 minutes and 21 seconds

*When Do We See 15 Hours Of Daylight: May 19th (15 hours, 0 minutes, 10 seconds)
*When Is The Sunrise At/Before 5:30 AM?: May 30th (5:30 AM)
*When Is The Sunset At/After 9 PM?: June 12th (9:00 PM)

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This Day in Weather History
May 13th

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On Friday, a stubborn area of low pressure near the Southeast coast that has been retrograding westward will produce showers and thunderstorms from the Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast. A cold front in the Mississippi Valley will bring severe storm chances. Meanwhile, a system in the Pacific Northwest will bring rain along with higher mountain snow.

Several inches of snow (yes, we're still talking snow!) could pile up in the mountains out west. Meanwhile, the heaviest rain through Saturday evening looks to fall across portions of eastern Montana and along the Pacific Northwest coast where some areas could see over 3" fall.

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First image of supermassive black hole at the center of Milky Way galaxy revealed

Invictus Brewing Celebrates the Sun with New 1.7 Million Megawatts Summer Ale

More from BrewBound: "In coordination with the National Craft Brewer's Conference being hosted in Minnesota, Invictus Brewing announced its newest beer, "1.7 Million Megawatts Summer Ale." The beer celebrates Invictus Brewing's new rooftop solar array and educates people that there's still plenty of sunshine to harvest in the service territory of its electric cooperative, Connexus Energy."

Biden pulls 3 offshore oil lease sales, curbing new drilling this year

More from The Washington Post: "The Interior Department confirmed Wednesday that it will not hold three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska that had been scheduled to take place, taking millions of acres off the auction block. The decision, which comes as U.S. gas prices have reached record highs, effectively ends the possibility of the federal government holding a lease sale in coastal waters this year. The Biden administration is poised to let the nationwide offshore drilling program expire next month without a new plan in place."

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- D.J. Kayser