St. Cloud, MN Weather Forecast

Some Helpful Rain With Little Monday Severe Weather in Minnesota

The severe storms were limited to northwestern Iowa and especially Kansas and Missouri, but a new round of showers and thunderstorms pushed from the eastern Dakotas and Nebraska into much of Minnesota overnight (set number of frames to 200 on the College of DuPage north central US radar loop). This produced significant rainfall in the parts of central Minnesota that didn't get much rain on Sunday and Sunday night. In St. Cloud, another 0.51 inch of rain fell through 1 AM (see NWS: last 72 hours of St. Cloud observations). Twin Cities International Airport had 0.53 inch, Duluth picked up 0.47 inch, and Alexandria got 0.33 inch.

Drying Out and Cooling Off, Especially Through Tomorrow Morning

However, those storms are departing northeastern Minnesota. That will set central Minnesota for drying that will last through the rest of the work week. It will also be much cooler over the next 24 hours. By sunrise, temperatures will fall back into the 40's (see NWS Aviation Weather Center METAR map) with wind chills in the 30's (see NWS Minnesota hourly weather round-up) as winds pick up to 15-25 MPH during the daylight hours. High temperatures will only recover to around 50 degrees this afternoon, more typical of early April than the second half of May.

Perhaps Some Sunny Periods During This Afternoon

The return of sunshine will be a bit slower. The main low is pushing into western Ontario (see College of DuPage North America mid-level water vapor loop) Breaks in the clouds have only moved into Saskatchewan (see College of DuPage North America shortwave infrared satellite loop), so we will have lingering clouds through the middle of today. 

Central Minnesota Frost Threat, Northern Minnesota Freeze Threat Tonight

Tonight, skies will clear and the winds will die down. Given the drier air in western Ontario and Manitoba (see dew points in the 30's on the UCAR hourly dew point map), there will be a good chance for low temperatures in the 20's to near 30 in northern Minnesota and near freezing in parts of central Minnesota. Today will be the day to cover any sensitive plants if you have planted them so far this spring.

Milder (Mostly 60's) Rest of Week, But Still Cooler Than Average Late May Temperatures

We will see some warming the rest of the work week, but high temperatures will not be able to climb back into the 70's until Sunday at the earliest. Highs will return to near 60 tomorrow and the middle 60's on Thursday, but more clouds could knock highs back to around 60 on Friday. 

Dry, So Fire Danger Back Up After Wednesday

There will be few chances for showers (see NWS WPC quantitative precipitation forecast) and dew points should generally be in the 30's. Winds won't be as strong as what we had at the end of last week, but the combination of highs in the 60's, a bit of a breeze, and the dry air will again produce elevated fire danger during the middle and the end of this week in areas that didn't get much rain the past two days.

The Flanders fire to the east of Breezy Point has continued, but the cooler and less windy weather helped with containment yesterday. 

Only a Few Friday Showers Through the Weekend

The steering winds will turn to more west-to-east towards the weekend. This will move a series of storms along and to the north of the Canadian border. That will produce more clouds and a few scattered showers on Friday into Saturday. However, the low-level dry air will keep the rainfall totals low (see Days 4-5 of the NWS WPC quantitative precipitation forecast). 

And Warming Up Sunday and Early Next Week

A major storm will move into the Central or Southern Rockies over the weekend. That will turn our steering winds to more southwest-to-northeast, giving us an opportunity to see much warmer temperatures from Sunday into early next week. Depending on the track of the storm as it moves into the Plains, there could be the potential for more showers and thunderstorms, but I can't pin down when that will be and what parts of Minnesota will have the best chance for these storms.