Rain chances arrive Friday night into Saturday

Our next rain chance across southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa will come from a feature that we do not experience very often around here…the remnants of a tropical cyclone.

Hurricane Francine made landfall in southern Louisiana as a category 2 hurricane, and has since weakened while tracking northward across Mississippi and will soon be entering Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri. As of now, Francine is a Post-Tropical Cyclone, meaning it is no longer a tropical cyclone, but is still able to drop copious amount of rain and bring gusty winds.

Francine will be tracking northward over the next day or two, and while the center of the system itself will not come anywhere near Iowa and Minnesota, the moisture and energy from the system will.

A trough of low pressure will be tracking toward Minnesota and Iowa from the west tomorrow and Saturday as Francine tracks northward. A fragment of the energy associated with Francine will be pulled northward across Iowa and southeastern Minnesota Friday night into Saturday morning. This energy, along with the moisture, should be enough to kick off a round of showers and a few thunderstorms heading into the overnight hours Friday night.

Timing it all out, all of Friday should stay dry, but cloud cover will increase throughout the day. Friday evening should also remain dry, with a slight chance for some light showers across northern Iowa. The main round is expected to arrive later Friday night, and will likely last until mid morning Saturday. By Saturday afternoon, the rain is expected to be out of the area, with only a slight chance for a shower or t-storm. In short, no washout for Saturday!

Rainfall amounts are expected to stay under a quarter of an inch for most, although any t-storm activity could result in slightly higher amounts. Fortunately, the lack of precipitation as of late has lowered flooding concerns locally. No flooding concerns as of now!