Twin Cities folks with weather alerts on their phones were likely looking to the skies (or the basement) Saturday morning as Tornado Watch warnings went out.
But, according to the National Weather Service, the bad weather shifted north of St. Cloud and as of 3 p.m. Saturday, no tornadoes had been seen. Swift County reported baseball-sized hail and other counties to the north and west reported downed trees.
Meteorologists are keeping an eye, however, on another group of storms expected to hit the area this evening and into the night.
“The biggest concern at this point is going to be related to heavy rains, but there could be some additional severe weather still possible with that,” said Nick Carletta, a meteorologist with the NWS office in Chanhassen. “Right now, it looks like one to two inches of rain. With thunderstorms, if they do develop, we can get pretty rapid rainfall rates that could possibly be in excess of that.”
The rain is welcome for those watching lake and river levels shrink over the mostly hot, dry summer.
The rainfall is above normal for the month of August, but as far as the season goes, since June 1, the area is still three and a half inches behind normal. According to NWS data, this is currently the 17th wettest August on record.
The Mississippi River is still running low, but the rain is helping, Carletta said.
The storms will bring in cooler weather, with temps in the mid 60s tonight. Sunday could reach the upper 70s with lows dipping to the upper 50s Sunday night.
“A little more out of those summer temperatures,” he said. “Maybe not quite fall like yet, but not quite as warm as we saw for much of the summer.”
