Updraft: April 3, 2012 Archive

Monday night "Hailers"; Storms showed rotation; Frosty next week?

Posted at 8:26 AM on April 3, 2012 by Paul Huttner (1 Comments)

1st batch of April thunder brings welcome rain but also hail

Numerous hail reports in and near metro Monday evening

Sun gradually returns Tuesday PM

Frosty close to home Wednesday AM & next week?

Cool but spring- like pattern ahead

Source: NWS

Monday evening thunder:

Well, that was interesting!

A nice little cluster of storms popped Monday evening just southwest of the metro and moved right on in.

Lightning, thunder rain and numerous hail reports hit the airwaves. Much of the hail was focused on the south metro. Here are a few of the NWS storm reports.

MPX: South ST Paul [Dakota Co, MN] trained spotter reports HAIL of penny size (M0.75 INCH) at 11:45 PM CDT --

MPX: Edina [Hennepin Co, MN] trained spotter reports HAIL of penny size (M0.75 INCH) at 11:59 PM CDT --

MPX: 3 NE Cottage Grove [Washington Co, MN] trained spotter reports HAIL of penny size (M0.75 INCH) at 11:34 PM CDT --

MPX: 1 W Bloomington [Hennepin Co, MN] trained spotter reports HAIL of nickel size (M0.88 INCH) at 11:18 PM CDT --

MPX: 1 N Eden Prairie [Hennepin Co, MN] trained spotter reports HAIL of marble size (E0.50 INCH) at 11:16 PM CDT -- covering the ground

MPX: Burnsville [Dakota Co, MN] emergency mngr reports HAIL of quarter size (M1.00 INCH) at 10:53 PM CDT --

The hail even stopped traffic for a while on I-35 south of the metro!

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
447 AM CDT TUE APR 03 2012

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

1035 PM HAIL 2 SSE PRIOR LAKE 44.71N 93.42W
04/02/2012 M0.75 INCH SCOTT MN TRAINED SPOTTER

1053 PM HAIL BURNSVILLE 44.76N 93.28W
04/02/2012 M1.00 INCH DAKOTA MN EMERGENCY MNGR

1107 PM HAIL 4 E PRESCOTT 44.75N 92.71W
04/02/2012 M0.50 INCH PIERCE WI TRAINED SPOTTER

1116 PM HAIL 1 N EDEN PRAIRIE 44.86N 93.46W
04/02/2012 E0.50 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER

COVERING THE GROUND

1118 PM HAIL 1 W BLOOMINGTON 44.83N 93.34W
04/02/2012 M0.88 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER

1134 PM HAIL 3 NE COTTAGE GROVE 44.84N 92.88W
04/02/2012 M0.75 INCH WASHINGTON MN TRAINED SPOTTER

1145 PM HAIL 1 E SHAKOPEE 44.77N 93.46W
04/02/2012 M0.88 INCH SCOTT MN NWS EMPLOYEE

1145 PM HAIL SOUTH ST PAUL 44.89N 93.04W
04/02/2012 M0.75 INCH DAKOTA MN TRAINED SPOTTER

1159 PM HAIL EDINA 44.89N 93.36W
04/02/2012 M0.75 INCH HENNEPIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER

0123 AM HAIL 2 NW EAU CLAIRE 44.84N 91.52W
04/03/2012 M0.50 INCH EAU CLAIRE WI TRAINED SPOTTER

0235 AM HAIL 2 N MENOMONIE 44.92N 91.91W
04/03/2012 M0.75 INCH DUNN WI TRAINED SPOTTER

Rain too:

The south metro (Bloomington, Burnsville & Eagan) won the rainfall lottery. Doppler storm totals rainfall estimates show local rainfall totals over an inch in some areas!

Source: Wx Underground and NOAA

Storms showed rotation!

A few of the storms showed rotation last night. Check out this doppler image from 12:26 am last night as one tightly wound storm wraped up right over South St. Paul.

Source: Wx Underground & NOAA

Last night's outbreak was more like a June "nocturnal" event.

What? Frost??

You can feel the coolness as we the transition to more typical early spring weather today.

Most years we wouldn't even bat an eyelash or dedicate any newsprint to the chances for frost in April. It's just a given. Our average low in the Twin Cities this week is still 32 degrees.

But this is not most years.

The last 32 degree reading at MSP Airport was on March 9th! The temps dipped to 15 degrees that morning.

So it's really no big shocker that frost is in the forecast as early as Wednesday morning, and again by next week.

Source: Iowa State University

UK or KU?

I should have known Kentucky would win last night's NCAA Championship. Take a look at this cloud photo near Gary, Indiana yesterday. It looks very much like the state of Kentucky on the map!

Source: WLKY.com Joe Wyssbrod took this picture in Indiana past Gary near Lake Michigan.

Duh!

PH

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