Saturday, May 21, 2011

More Sunday Thunder

Todd's SCTimes Update for St. Cloud and all of Central Minnesota 

SUNDAY: Early morning storms, some sun morning/midday hours. Showers and T-storms redevelop in the later afternoon hours Winds: S 10-15. High: 74

SUNDAY NIGHT: Isolated TStorm possible early, otherwise, spotty showers swinging through overnight. Low: 55


MONDAY: Showers linger, cooler - still damp. Winds pick up from the northwest at 10-15 G20. High: 68

TUESDAY: More sunshine. A cooler, drier day. Low: 43. High: 67

WEDNESDAY: Mostly sunny and pleasant. Low: 45. High: 68

THURSDAY: Mostly dry and more sunshine with increasing clouds late. Low: 45. High: 69

FRIDAY: Sun fades, rain and maybe some thunder develops for the ride up north. Low: 50. High:71
 
SATURDAY: Clearing skies, more PM sunshine and mild. Low: 50. High: 73
 
 
 Saturday Storms Rumble Through With Some Vigor

The picture above was snapped by Paul's son, Walt, who watched Saturday's storms from a distance as they rumbled away from Lake Minnetonka. Saturday, turned out to be a little more threatening and was cause for some minor panic in the north and west metro. Several funnel clouds (perhaps even a tornado near Medina), hail and very heavy rainfall trained over the same areas for a few hours for parts of the Metro. It was quite a show for some, but for others (those in the south and east metro) it wasn't much of an event as the storms were very isolated in nature. The photo below was taken by a good friend of mine, Ben Lewis, from forest lake who snapped this photo of what almost looks like a lowering near Andover. There were some crazy looking clouds out there on Saturday - this happens to be one of them.





The reports above are just two of the reports of a rotating wall cloud - see a full list of storm reports from the National Weather Service HERE:
 


The other big story from these storms was the amount of rain that fell from the sky. Radar rain estimates from GR3 shows as much as 3" to 4" in the areas shaded in red above.
 
 
That's a picture of my rain gauge on the northwest side of town. Smack dab in the middle of the red coloring, which verifies the 3" to 4" amounts that radar estimated. I had around 3.4" in my highly scientific/technical rain gauge. My sump pump was working overtime last night to kick out all that water that ended up in my sump tub... Not sure it's stopped working even now! Below are some of the photos I snapped on my way home yesterday... certainly was a lot of water.


More Sunday Storms
 
After a few early morning storms, there will be a break around midday with, perhaps, a little sunshine. A fairly mild and humid environment will once again pop up some afternoon/evening thundershowers - some of which may be strong. The image below shows the high resolution radar simulation at 7pm - note the line of storms that looks to be developing across the southeastern corner of the state. There is a chance that some storms may pop up through central Minnesota with some vigor as well.


The Storm Prediction Center has parts of Minnesota under a SLIGHT RISK of severe weather for Sunday, see below and read more from the SPC HERE:



It appears that the wrap around moisture with this slow moving storm system will linger through Monday, but a drier and cooler weather regime will take hold Tuesday, Wednesday and for most of Thursday. Things sour once again as we get closer to the long, Memorial Day weekend. There will be two storms to watch; one of Friday and one later into the weekend. Both will have a chance of thunderstorms, some of which may be on the strong side. It's still a ways out there, so stay tuned!

Friday Before Memorial Weekend

I also want to thank everyone for sharing their thoughts on my funky/raunchy looking cocoon that I found in my flowering crabapple tree last Friday. I received lots of emails and lots of good suggestions.
 
 
I was able to dispose of that ugly looking web. Saturday the 21st, didn't end up being the end of days for us, but unfortunately, those threatening wiggly worms (tent caterpillars) did meet there demise - I hope my tree is bug free this year! Thanks again everybody for the knowledgeable advice! Have a good Sunday.

Meteorologist Todd Nelson

1 comment:

  1. Paul, this is a FABULOUS idea and I LOVE YOUR PRESENTATION OF THE INFORMATION!!! WOW! You're right, this is the preferred way for people to get information since there is only a limited amount of time on the news (1-2 minutes at a clip at best) and in print, it is VERY static... KUDOS to you!! Have a great day! Stay safe!
    Cat Lerner - IL

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