This morning, a small but intense supercell and bow echo raced northeast from southern South Dakota into west-central Minnesota. As a result, a severe thunderstorm watch is in effect downstream of the storm until 4 PM today, covering northern and central Minnesota (highlighted in yellow on the map).
The main threats in the watch area include scattered damaging wind gusts up to 60 mph, with some isolated gusts reaching 80 mph. There’s also the risk of scattered large hail up to 1 inch in diameter (about the size of a quarter) and isolated hail up to 2 inches across (bigger than a golf ball). A tornado is also possible.
This storm has been riding along the +12 to +14°C 700mb temperature gradient, pulling in lots of moisture from southeasterly low-level winds with dew points in the 70s, and packing CAPE values of 3000 J/kg or more.
This morning, besides the severe thunderstorms in western Minnesota, attention is also on the Lake Superior area, where storms keep forming over the same spot, bringing heavy downpours and causing minor flooding north and east of Duluth.
Radar loop ends 11:11 AM Monday, June 29, 2026.
Surface analysis shows a warm front over central Minnesota and low pressure over central South Dakota. The warm front will gradually lift north throughout the day, though the timing is uncertain due to ongoing thunderstorms that could slow its northward progress this afternoon.
In central and southern Minnesota, temperatures south of the warm front are already in the 80s, while areas north of the front are seeing temps in the 60s to near 70 degrees late this morning.
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