Several Rain & Storm Chances Wrap Up the Week

As the Stateline continues to experience impactful drought conditions despite a couple of recent rainfalls, the next several days should help to put a large dent in the area’s rain deficit.

 Early Wednesday morning, a few light showers pushed through parts of the Stateline before clearing out by the afternoon and leaving the Stateline dry for the rest of the day. But a couple of approaching storm systems should bring the rainfall that the Stateline has long been hoping for. A strong cold front draped across the northern Plains is bringing a cluster of rain showers to parts of far northern Minnesota Wednesday evening. This front will propagate southeastward and approach the Stateline by Thursday morning.  A second disturbance, a center of low pressure out to the west, is bringing strong to severe thunderstorms to parts of Nebraska. This system will also push eastward and arrive in the Midwest late Thursday. Both systems will bring several rounds of rain and thunderstorms to the area over the latter half of the week.

After mostly clear to partly cloudy skies should stick around through most of the overnight, more clouds will quickly fill in from the west close to dawn Thursday morning. This will pave the way for the first chance for scattered showers and a few thunderstorms which could arrive as early as the midmorning hours. This will kick off a day of off and on scattered showers with a few embedded thunderstorms popping up as well. The chance of rain will continue overnight though likely break up in coverage quite a bit before filling in again heading into Friday. Similar conditions are expected for the final day of the work week with scattered showers and thunderstorms for much of the day. A third storm system will impact the Stateline heading into the weekend bringing the area more chances for rain and a few lighter thunderstorms primarily on Saturday though rain is possible on Sunday as well.

 There is the potential for some of the thunderstorms over the next couple of days to be on the stronger side, particularly on Thursday. As of Wednesday evening, the Storm Prediction Center has a marginal risk for severe weather on Thursday over just about all of the Stateline with a slight risk sitting just out to the west where the atmosphere appears more suitable for deep convection and rapid thunderstorm development. Should any thunderstorms become severe, heavy downpours and sever winds are the most likely hazards though the chance for hail or even an isolated tornado does exist. Regardless of whether any of these storms become severe, the area should get plenty of much needed rain. Due to the very scattered nature of the rain over the next several days, rainfall amounts across the Stateline should be extremely variable. Therefore, computer models are also extremely variable in their predicted rainfall totals though there is a consensus that a notable amount should fall. These next few days should hopefully put up a good fight against the drought conditions found in the area. A few lighter rain events over the past week likely resulted in the soil becoming a bit more permeable which will make the rain that we get in the near future all the more helpful. As of the latest drought monitor from the Drought Mitigation Center issued this past Thursday, most of the Stateline is experiencing a moderate drought with many seeing severe to extreme drought conditions.