Minneapolis, MN 55454 Weather

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of central and southern Minnesota, and west central Wisconsin.

Day one

Today and Tonight.

Scattered thunderstorms can be expected this afternoon and evening. Some storms may be strong to severe with a few tornadoes, large hail or damaging winds possible.

Days two through seven

Thursday through Tuesday.

No hazardous weather is expected at this time.

Spotter information statement

SKYWARN spotter activation may be needed this afternoon and evening.

Key messages

- Multiple rounds of rain expected through early next week, including the potential for severe thunderstorms this afternoon-evening.

- Temperatures to run above normal through early next week, with the warmest temperatures expected today as highs climb to the 60s to lower 70s.

Discussion

Issued at 249 AM CDT Wed Oct 28 2026

Despite what is generally zonal flow aloft, there is a significant shortwave mid-level trough moving atop the Rockies during this overnight period which will eject into the Northern Plains later this morning. This trough will work in conjunction with a surface frontal boundary draped over southern MN currently to produce a potentially interesting and active weather day for this afternoon-evening.

The trough will shift across the Dakotas during the day today as strong southerly flow advects both higher moisture and warmer air into southern MN and western WI. By midday today, the entire WFO MPX coverage area will find itself within the warm sector ahead of a low pressure center developing over eastern SD, with its warm front into northern MN and its cold front sagging south over central NE/KS. Highs will range through the 60s and into the lower 70s, warmest near and south/east of the MN River while dewpoints rise through the 50s, potentially reaching 60. Favorable timing for the frontal passage, allowing for peak heating with peak instability, will allow for a fairly wide swath of rainfall with embedded thunderstorms in western MN early afternoon which will shift eastward through this evening. Model soundings continue to show veering winds with height and favorable hodographs, indicating a decent potential for discrete supercells. Though persistent cloud cover may be the limiting factor, there is enough model and analog evidence that a few tornadoes are not unreasonable for today in eastern MN into western WI, particularly for the mid-late afternoon hours. As the event progresses today, MLCAPEs are still progged to climb to around 1000 j/kg, which with colder air aloft, could transition the hazard from tornadoes to a hail/wind threat. Then again, this is also a situation where the ingredients simply do not come together due to lower instability, insufficient heating, poor frontal timing, or other meteorological hindrances. Thus, today is a highly conditional threat but one that bears watching, especially under the context that collab with the SPC has nudged the risk into the Slight (Level 2 of 5) Category for a small area around the Twin Cities metro and into far western WI.

The cold front will push well into WI later this evening and into the Great Lakes by daybreak Thursday. As such, any and all rainfall will be completely out of our coverage area prior to midnight tonight, followed by drier, cooler and much more stable high pressure for Thursday. There's even a pretty good chance that we'll have plentiful sunshine for Thursday in the wake of today's unsettled weather. Highs for Thursday will drop to the 50s to lower 60s. The western extent of today's passing cold front, located over the Central Plains, will push northward a bit on Friday into Saturday but not as much as previous forecasts. Thus, the chances for rain on Saturday are a bit lower and more confined to southern MN for only scattered rain showers.

A better chance for rain still looks to come Monday into Tuesday but now the track of this system looks to stay farther south, greatly scaling back the potential for thunderstorms in lieu of more stratiform rain with the warm front remaining to the south instead of snapping northward into the Upper Midwest. This will limit omega lift and PVA in favor of greater isentropic lift across our coverage area and also tamp down temperatures from getting too far greater than normal. Highs Thursday-Saturday will remain in the 50s to lower 60s, followed by highs Sunday- Monday in the upper 50s to mid 60s as this system moves across the region. Behind it, highs will return to the 50s for the middle of next week along with less active weather.

Aviation

Issued at 636 AM CDT Wed Oct 28 2026

Low stratus has spread across the region at initialization time, dropping ceilings over much of the area to IFR levels along with morning fog dropping visibility to between 1sm-4sm. Once the fog burns off and some wind picks up to the 5-10kt range, MVFR ceilings will prevail for much of this TAF duration. A round of rain with embedded thunderstorms is expected to push across the area this afternoon-evening, particularly for central- eastern MN into western WI. Some gusty/breezy winds with sharp directional changes are possible with the passage of these storms, along with brief downpours which could push visibility into IFR range. Once the precip ends, steady clearing is expected along with winds veering to SW and W with diminishing speeds.

KMSP: IFR ceilings will prevail for the first few hours of this TAF duration, then MVFR ceilings will return for the afternoon hours in advance of the expected RA/TSRA. Timing of the main line looks to be near the afternoon push, in the 4pm-7pm timeframe. Some of the storms may contain frequent lightning, heavy downpours, gusty winds and hail. Once the storms clear out to the east of MSP, winds will shift from S to W with speeds in the 5-10kt range.

/OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ FRI: VFR. Wind SE 5-10kts. SAT: Chance MVFR/-RA. Wind SE 5-10kts. SUN: VFR. Wind SE 5-10kts.

Watches, warnings and advisories

MN: None. WI: None.