There is a potential for heavy rain which may lead to flash flooding in northwest Wisconsin and far eastern Minnesota tonight, for this reason the National Weather Service in Duluth has issued a Flash Flood Watch which is in effect from 7 PM this evening through Wednesday morning for the green shaded area on the map below.
Some cities included in the flash flood watch are…
Floodwood, Duluth, Cloquet, Moose Lake, Hinckley, Pine City, Superior, Solon Springs, Siren, Bayfield, Washburn, Ashland, Minong, Shell Lake, Glidden and Hayward.
A flash flood watch means that conditions may develop that lead to flash flooding. Flash flooding is a very dangerous situation.
Note: I think the greatest risk for heavy rain and possible flooding for tonight will be centered over northwest Wisconsin, extending southwest into far eastern Minnesota (generally east of that yellow line on the map below) this is based off some of the latest model data, and radar trends this afternoon.
Seems to be two distinct zones where rain occurs tonight.
The first area is mostly light to moderate rainfall which is ongoing late this afternoon across northern Minnesota, this area of rain is moving northeast.
The second area is centered over far eastern Minnesota into much of northwest Wisconsin (yellow outlined area on map) This area could see several waves of thunderstorms and heavy rainfall tonight as activity lifts north-northeast.
What happens between the rain in northern Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin remains to be seen. We could see additional rain develop, or we may not see much rain at all, unfortunately this zone will be right over Duluth and Superior tonight.
Note: Duluth, Minnesota has only had 0.54″ of rain so far this month, in fact May 2020 ranks as the 2nd driest May on record (thru the 25th) in Duluth. The driest May on record for Duluth was set in 1976 with 0.15″ of precipitation.
A steady mostly light rain has been falling much of the day across northern Minnesota with rainfall amounts of generally a quarter inch or less through 4 PM Tuesday.
Thanks for reading!
Tim
