Soaking rains arrive Friday

We’ll finally see the clouds that have been hanging around the last several days produce precipitation across our area, but it won’t be in the form we are used to this time of year.

An area of low pressure currently tracking across northwestern Texas and western Oklahoma will continue to advance north/northeastward over the next 24-48 hrs. As it does so, copious amounts of moisture will be brought northward, and into our area Thursday night into Friday.

There could be a few showers around northern Iowa later this afternoon, and into the early evening hours Thursday, but most locations stay dry until later Thursday night and early Friday morning. Temperatures will remain above the freezing mark during this time period, leading to precipitation being in the form of rain.

Temperatures climb into the lower 40F’s for Friday, well above freezing, allowing for precipitation to remain rain Friday through Friday night. The best forcing for a widespread precipitation event arrives Friday afternoon and sticks around through at least Friday evening. Model guidance is still a bit uncertain on how long the rain sticks around.

Regardless, this may well end up being a soaker for our area, with all of southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa seeing at least 0.25″ of rain. Some locations could easily see over 0.75″, with some model guidance even pushing the 1″ mark!

Rain continues Friday night before winding down Saturday morning. Any lingering shower activity is expected to clear the area by Saturday afternoon, leaving us with a cloud filled sky and temperatures in the low 40F’s.

It isn’t snow yes, but at least it’s something interesting as opposed to clouds just hanging around and not doing much!