Variable amounts of June rain continue: This last week brought highly variable rainfall to Minnesota. Many areas received over 1 inch of rain, and there were several reports of 2 to 3 inches. Generally, northern-central and northwestern areas, along with some southwestern counties received less than 1 inch of rain for the week. On the other hand, portions of Faribault, St Louis, and Chippewa Counties reported over 4 inches of rain. Severe weather reports were numerous around the state on Monday, June 16th. Awaiting confirmation from National Weather Service storm surveys, there were reports that day of tornadoes in Otter Tail, Wadena, Todd, Cass, Aitkin, St Louis, and Nicollet Counties. There were also reports of large hail from Otter Tail, Cass, Meeker, Wright, Carver, and Blue Earth counties, with some reports of 2” and 3” diameter hailstones in Carver County. In addition, there were reports of trees down or damaged from thunderstorm winds in Stearns, Hennepin, Crow Wing, and St Loui...
Update on weather for the first half of June: Through the first two weeks of June the weather has brought a number of air quality alerts to most of the state due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. Despite this pattern, near normal to above normal rainfall has been reported from many areas of the state. Dozens of observers have reported over 2 inches, and several reported over 3 inches so far. USDA reports for Minnesota show that the topsoil moisture content is currently rated 85 percent adequate or surplus, a good sign for continued stress-free crop development. Outlooks continue to favor wetter than normal conditions across the state through the 4th week of the month. A more comprehensive update on June weather can be found at the Minnesota State Climatology Office web site . Despite the rains, Moderate Drought remains over about 17 percent of the Minnesota landscape, mostly in the north and southwest. In the drier areas of the state, afternoon temperatures spiked in the 90s F i...