Be prepared for severe weather Friday night into the overnight, followed by oppressive heat and humidity Saturday.
The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service has northwest and north-central Minnesota as a 4 out of 5 on its rating scale for risk of severe weather. Minnesota on average sees that designation less than once a year, according to Eric Ahasic, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Chanhassan.
Moderate Risk today... OK, weather. You have my attention https://t.co/823MqCEhR9
— Joe Hansel (@JoeHanselWx)
July 17, 2020 Greatest threat is Red River Valley into Brainerd Lakes and Bemidji this evening. Moderate Risk usually implies significant potential for wind damage and tornadoes. Stay alert out there later today and tonight. @wccoradio @StarTribune https://t.co/7VYrVWhaat
— Paul Douglas (@pdouglasweather)
July 17, 2020 “What makes this event kind of more dangerous is the fact that it’s going to be overnight,” Ahasic said. “Thunderstorms really won’t form until this evening across North Dakota. It won’t really get to the far reaches of western Minnesota until 8-9 p.m. tonight and obviously it takes time to head east from there.”
Ahasic said it’s possible for the storms to dip south to the far reaches of the north metro and the I-94 corridor, but forecasts point to central Minnesota. He recommends using a weather app or radio to be woken up by alerts. One positive is that there will be lead-time for meteorologists.
“At night you can’t see,” he said. “We train storm spotters to look at the visual structure of storms and can kind of give us some head’s up that way, you just won’t be able to see that at night. The good news, though, is that this is going to be a mainly damaging wind threat, a long-line of storms, a bowing line of storms.”
The heat Minnesota gets Saturday, Ahasic said, will depend on the storms, but as of Friday afternoon, heat index values could reach 110 in the metro making it feel more like the Gulf Coast. An Excessive Heat Watch is posted from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
