With most of Minnesota experiencing below-normal values for precipitation in the month of June, rain returned on June 14-15 with a heavy dose being dumped across southwestern parts of the state.
Many locations in southern Minnesota reported from one to two inches of rain that fell between June 14-15 with Comfrey in Brown County reporting the most rain at 4.70 inches.
A surface trough extending off of a low pressure system in Iowa crept across Minnesota starting late Tuesday night and finally moved away by Wednesday evening. An upper level shortwave trough, which eventually closed off, provided significant lift to develop the storms. Steep mid level lapse rates and large amounts of moisture also played a large role in contributing to the heavy rain.
The extent of the storms consisted of mostly heavy rain with occasional lightning, however there was half inch hail reported at Ellendale in Steele County, Wednesday afternoon.
While the heavy rain brought bad news for outdoor baseball on Tuesday for the Twins, the rain was welcomed in central Minnesota, where very little rain had fallen during the first two weeks of June. In southwest Minnesota it was too much rain for farmers with soggy fields.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 505 PM CDT WED JUN 15 2011 ..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON... ..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.... ..REMARKS.. 0440 PM HAIL ELLENDALE 43.87N 93.30W 06/15/2011 E0.50 INCH STEELE MN TRAINED SPOTTER PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 751 AM CDT WED JUN 15 2011 ..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON... ..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.... ..REMARKS.. 0600 AM HEAVY RAIN BLUE EARTH 43.64N 94.10W 06/15/2011 M2.58 INCH FARIBAULT MN CO-OP OBSERVER 24 HOUR TOTAL. 0624 AM HEAVY RAIN SSW WELCOME 43.66N 94.62W 06/15/2011 M2.20 INCH MARTIN MN TRAINED SPOTTER 24 HOUR TOTAL. 0700 AM HEAVY RAIN SPRINGFIELD 44.24N 94.98W 06/15/2011 M2.29 INCH BROWN MN CO-OP OBSERVER 0700 AM HEAVY RAIN FARMINGTON 44.66N 93.18W 06/15/2011 M1.72 INCH DAKOTA MN NWS EMPLOYEE 0700 AM HEAVY RAIN LESTER PRAIRIE 44.88N 94.04W 06/15/2011 M1.71 INCH MCLEOD MN CO-OP OBSERVER 0700 AM HEAVY RAIN CHANHASSEN 44.86N 93.56W 06/15/2011 M1.67 INCH CARVER MN OFFICIAL NWS OBS 24 HOUR TOTAL. 0700 AM HEAVY RAIN FARIBAULT 44.30N 93.27W 06/15/2011 M1.98 INCH RICE MN CO-OP OBSERVER 24 HOUR TOTAL. 0714 AM HEAVY RAIN 3 S LE SUEUR 44.42N 93.91W 06/15/2011 M2.60 INCH LE SUEUR MN PUBLIC 24 HOUR TOTAL. 0714 AM HEAVY RAIN GIBBON 44.54N 94.52W 06/15/2011 M1.18 INCH SIBLEY MN PUBLIC 24 HOUR TOTAL. 0714 AM HEAVY RAIN EASTON 43.77N 93.90W 06/15/2011 M2.70 INCH FARIBAULT MN PUBLIC 0714 AM HEAVY RAIN MINNESOTA LAKE 43.84N 93.83W 06/15/2011 M2.45 INCH FARIBAULT MN PUBLIC 0714 AM HEAVY RAIN HUNTLEY 43.69N 94.19W 06/15/2011 M2.90 INCH FARIBAULT MN PUBLIC 0714 AM HEAVY RAIN NORTH MANKATO 44.18N 94.03W 06/15/2011 M2.75 INCH NICOLLET MN PUBLIC 0714 AM HEAVY RAIN HANSKA 44.15N 94.49W 06/15/2011 M2.14 INCH BROWN MN PUBLIC 0715 AM HEAVY RAIN 4 NW LAKE CRYSTAL 44.14N 94.27W 06/15/2011 M2.30 INCH BLUE EARTH MN PUBLIC 24 HOUR TOTAL. 0741 AM HEAVY RAIN COMFREY 44.11N 94.90W 06/15/2011 M4.70 INCH BROWN MN PUBLIC
Updated By: Climatology Volunteer Lucas Graunke