A tornado watch has been issued for a large portion of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities, with reports of tornadoes beginning to come in from various parts of the state.
The watch is in effect until 9 p.m. and extends from west-central Minnesota to western Wisconsin.
At 5 p.m., a tornado was reported near Bertha in Todd County. Tornado warnings have since been issued in Stearns County, with the storm moving northeast.
The NWS has also reported a tornado in the Brainerd area.
The National Weather Service warns of tennis ball-sized hail, tornadoes, and wind gusts of up to 70 mph.
It comes as a series of mini-storm systems hit Minnesota, prompting a special weather warning in the Minneapolis area until 3 p.m. due to strong winds, large hail, and an absolute deluge of rain.
Storms in the morning were expected to limit the extent of severe weather in the afternoon, but Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard believes there is still enough energy in the atmosphere to cause problems.
“While there was a lot of morning convection, it wasn’t widespread enough totally squash severe potential,” according to him. “There’s a lot of low-level shear and instability due to our highest dew points of the season thus far, and the area where storms are developing has dew points in the mid-80s and mid-70s.
“Storms that form could easily stick together and sweep through the metro late this afternoon and evening.” Large hail and tornadoes are possible with the initial cells.”
