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Tracking Atmospheric River for the West Coast; Space Weather Storming Continues

An atmospheric river will bring threats of gusty to high winds and heavy rainfall to California mainly Thursday into Saturday which may bring areas of flooding and wind damage. Heavy snow will be possible over the Sierra Nevada mountains Thursday into Friday associated with the atmospheric river. Minor to severe geomagnetic storming (space weather) is expected to continue into early Thursday. Read More >

Overview

A surface boundary extended from southern Minnesota into northeast Iowa on Wednesday, June 17th. Warm and moist air pooled up to this boundary, leading to shower and thunderstorm development by early evening. The atmosphere was unstable enough and wind shear was favorable for storms to become severe very rapidly, producing large hail and even a couple tornadoes. The confirmed tornadoes were located in Mower County, Minnesota - in and around Austin (damage path) and several miles west of LeRoy, MN.

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Radar loop of the Austin, MN tornado
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