Welcome rain

Posted at 8:30 AM on July 21, 2009 by Paul Huttner

Doppler storm total rainfall map shows an inch of much needed rainfall in some areas overnight.

A slow moving cold front triggered a band of welcome rainfall overnight.

It won't end the drought, but by the looks of the garden here at the Huttner Weather Lab, it's better than nothing.

As is typical with summertime rainfall, amounts are highly variable around the region. There's even a big variation in the metro. This happens because convective cells are embedded within the overall rain area. If you're lucky enough to get under a convective rain burst, you get more rain. That's what happened to lucky folks in parts of Eden Prairie and Minnetonka overnight where over an inch fell.

Here are some amounts from the metro as of 8 am this morning, with rain still falling in some areas.

MSP Airport .24"
St Paul .36"
Blaine .41"
Crystal .36"
Deephaven (Huttner) .48"
Eden Prairie (Edwards) 1.18"

Amounts also show a wide variation around Minnesota this morning.

Redwood Falls .08"
St. Cloud .69"
Mankato .17"
Brainerd .67"
Duluth .85"

Doppler rainfall estimates show as much as 2 inches may have fallen southwest of Lake Mille Lacs.

Hopefully your lawn will appreciate the rain today. This morning's rain will have to do for a while. It appears our next opportunity for showers will come Friday. The weekend looks a bit cooler with highs in the 70s and mostly dry after Saturday morning.

There are signs of heat building in again late next week into the weekend. That's August 1st, and the medium range forecast models are hinting at temperatures close to 90 to start the month of August. Stay tuned, and keep the air conditioner tuned up.

PH

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