Monday will be the warmest day of the year so far in Minnesota, but it comes with a First Alert Weather Day and a sharp risk of severe weather by evening. Highs are expected to reach the low to mid-70s before storms develop around 5 PM Monday night and track through north central Wisconsin until about 1 AM Tuesday morning.
Damaging hail is the top threat, though a few spin-up tornadoes and strong wind gusts are also possible. The storms could produce very heavy rainfall, with communities seeing anywhere from 0.25 to 0.50 inches to 1 to 2 plus inches by Tuesday morning depending on the storm track. That raises the risk of flooding in some places, especially along rivers already running high.
The unsettled stretch does not end there. Another First Alert Weather Day is in place for communities around and south of Highway 10 for Tuesday evening, when the best chance for severe weather in Wisconsin shifts closer to Madison and Milwaukee from about 4 PM to 10 PM Tuesday. Large hail is the main threat then, and highs again should run in the low 70s, possibly even warmer.
Wednesday brings a similar setup later in the day, with strong winds and hail possible across the southern third of the state. Highs top out in the mid to upper-60s, and showers and storms linger Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Once that wet weather moves out, clouds should break for a bit of sun later Thursday, with highs in the low 60s.
The pattern stays unsettled into the end of the week. Increasing clouds on Friday could bring scattered afternoon and nighttime showers and storms, with highs in the upper 60s to around 70. Saturday turns cooler, with considerable cloudiness and morning rain showers before possible rain and snow showers in the afternoon as temperatures fall from the 40s into the 30s. Sunday is expected to be chilly and mostly cloudy, with a high in the upper 30s.
This week’s minnesota storms weather forecast matters because the state is not dealing with a one-off burst of bad weather. It is facing a run of rain and storms, broken only by dry windows and a little sun, while rivers stay high enough to make any heavier band of rain a flooding concern. For now, Monday night is the first and most immediate test.
