Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Minnesota, June 25, 2025

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN
647 AM CDT Wed Jun 25 2025

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Widespread rainfall amounts today and Thursday of 2" to 4" are
  expected. Locally higher amounts are possible which could lead
  to localized flash flooding.

- It is still unclear where the highest amounts will fall and
  could occur anywhere across the southern half of MN and
  western WI.

- Hot and humid this weekend with more storms possible.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 312 AM CDT Wed Jun 25 2025

Rain is moving into western MN early this morning and will
quickly overspread the entire forecast area throughout the day.
This activity is being fed by deep moisture transport ahead of a
deep trough over the Rockies and enhanced by a strengthening
low-level jet across the Central Plains. A steady stream of
upper level lift, superimposed onto a slowly northward-
advancing low-level boundary will mean steady periods of rain
and occasional storms throughout the day across much of the
region. There may be a relative lull in precipitation overnight
before another focused round of rain and storms moves through on
Thursday in response to a slightly more pronounced upper wave.

This prolonged rainfall will lead to widespread 1" to 2"
amounts through today and into this evening, followed by
possibly another 1" to 2" on Thursday. Current ground moisture
levels can generally handle a general 2 to 4 inches spread over
a 48-hour period, aside from some swollen creeks and a few
rivers approaching minor flood stage. However, parameters are
favorable for a few spots of higher rain amounts, possibly in
excess of 5 inches, particularly later this afternoon and this
evening when storm motion and low-level jet vectors become more
favorable for back building storms. This combined with moisture
profiles that are highly favorable for tropical-like rain rates
could result in a few training storms capable of very heavy rain
and flash flooding. There is still very little to grab onto
regarding where exactly the highest flash flood potential could
be with models continuing to be highly variable. These solutions
keep bouncing around with their heavy rainfall axes suggesting
it could be anywhere from central Minnesota into northern Iowa
and into much of Wisconsin and anywhere in between. Given the
difficulty of pinpointing where flash flood potential could
occur, and since this threat is expected to stay fairly
localized, decided against a large scale flood watch for now.

Rain will taper off Thursday evening leading to a much drier day
on Friday. Temperatures on Friday will be fairly pleasant with
highs ranging from the middle 70s to lower 80s. This fair
weather will be short-lived however as heat and humidity rapidly
return on Saturday. Highs on Saturday will be pushing 90 across
much of the region along with dewpoints surging into the lower
to middle 70s. This hot and humid airmass will result in strong
to extreme instability by Saturday afternoon, which could set
the stage for a convective complex moving across the region some
time late Saturday or Sunday when an upper wave tracks across
the Dakotas. While models are coming into agreement on this
solution, they still disagree on timing which could have a big
impact on how strong these storms end up becoming. Regardless,
the degree of instability alone suggests that strong to severe
storms are a possibility at some point this weekend across much
of the area.

&&

.AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY/...
Issued at 644 AM CDT Wed Jun 25 2025

VFR to start for all sites, except EAU which is dealing with a
batch of IFR stratus, but this will be short-lived as -RA with
embedded TSRA expected to move in by 14-15z for most sites.
Rainfall will then persist most, if not all, day with occasional
TSRA (mainly morning to mid-afternoon). Rainfall will diminish
in the evening but then likely to pick up again during the
overnight hours into Thursday morning. Ceilings to drop to MVFR
then eventually IFR. Winds will shift from NE to E with
sustained speeds increasing to 10-15kts with gusts around 20kts,
highest speeds during the afternoon hours.

KMSP...Confidence still high enough to advertise TSRA in the
14z-22z timeframe with thunder chances diminishing thereafter.
Depending on convective trends, additional timeframes of CB/TS
could be added in later TAFs. MVFR ceilings likely after the
morning push, eventually dropping to IFR during or after the
evening push through Thursday morning.

/OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/
FRI...VFR. Wind variable 5 kts.
SAT...VFR. Chc TSRA/MVFR late. Wind S 5-10 kts.
SUN...MVFR/RA likely, chc TSRA/IFR. Wind W to NW 5-10 kts.

&&

.MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MN...None.
WI...None.

&&

DISCUSSION...DPH
AVIATION...JPC

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN
315 AM CDT Wed Jun 25 2025

MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028-
260815-
Douglas-Todd-Morrison-Mille Lacs-Kanabec-Stevens-Pope-Stearns-
Benton-Sherburne-Isanti-Chisago-Lac Qui Parle-Swift-Chippewa-
Kandiyohi-Meeker-Wright-Hennepin-Anoka-Ramsey-Washington-
Yellow Medicine-Renville-McLeod-Sibley-Carver-Scott-Dakota-
Redwood-Brown-Nicollet-Le Sueur-Rice-Goodhue-Watonwan-Blue Earth-
Waseca-Steele-Martin-Faribault-Freeborn-Polk-Barron-Rusk-
St. Croix-Pierce-Dunn-Pepin-Eau Claire-
315 AM CDT Wed Jun 25 2025

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

.DAY ONE...Today and Tonight.

Rain and thunderstorms will overspread the entire forecast area
today and tonight. Areas of heavy rainfall and localized flash
flooding are possible.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday.

Additional rounds of showers and thunderstorms are expected to
continue through Thursday. Heavy rain and flooding are possible,
especially if and where thunderstorms track over areas that
receive heavy rainfall on Wednesday.

Additional storms are possible Saturday night into Sunday, some of
which may be strong.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN spotter activation may be needed.