Minnesota weather: Thunderstorms pass through southern Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Thunderstorms and scattered showers made their way across Minnesota Thursday evening. 

Read more: Scattered storms Thursday afternoon with warm, humid conditions

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5 p.m. – Smaller storms move through outer metro

Some strong, but smaller storms are moving through the northwestern and southwestern Twin Cities metro. These storms are bringing heavy rain and some small hail. 

2:50 p.m. – Thunderstorm warning in west-central MN 

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning in the areas of Dassel, Darwin and Kingston, Minnesota. 

2:15 p.m. – Severe thunderstorm watch 

The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm for parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin until 8 p.m. on Thursday. 

Potential threats include tornadoes, scattered hail up to ping pong size possible, and scattered wind gusts of up to 70 mph, according to the NWS. 

Storm chances Thursday 

A cold front moving through will likely trigger scattered showers and thunderstorms. The best chance for storms runs from early afternoon into the evening hours. 

Isolated storms begin to fire up not long after the lunch hour. These first storm cells will hold a short-lived hail threat. But as storms become more widespread, they’ll congeal into small lines and clusters that will switch the main severe threat to gusty winds and a very small chance of a tornado.

There is a large amount of moisture in the atmosphere for this time of year, so some very heavy downpours will accompany the strongest storms that could lead to some minor and short-lived street flooding. 

The metro and areas to the south are under a level 2 slight risk of severe weather. Much of central and northern Minnesota is under a level 1 marginal risk. The main threats include brief heavy downpours, gusty winds over 60 mph and possible hail. An isolated tornado also can’t be ruled out.