Soaking rains pass south of St. Cloud

(Update: 11:30 am, Friday. A massive MCS, a meso-convective system, is pushing east across the state, soaking the southern third or so of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities. Nothing severe, just a rare moderate to heavy soaking, with some 1-2" rainfall amounts. Keep in mind we're down 7-8" since early June and 17" since June of 2008 but this will certainly help, it's a big step in the right direction for this part of the state, under severe/extreme drought conditions. Keep in mind the drought is worse in the Twin Cities than it is in St. Cloud).

Remember: we're still in a slight severe risk for later today. The sun should break through later - the soaking/cooling rain may have diminished the instability and subsequent severe risk for southern Minnesota, but we still can't rule out hail, even an isolated tornado, later today and early tonight.


Doppler Radar Rainfall Estimates. The heaviest (1-2") amounts are lining up from Olivia and Willmar east to the Twin Cities metro. St. Cloud missed out on the heaviest rains with this system; the computer models actually did a pretty good job last night highlight the southern quarter of MN as ripe for heavy rains/storms.