Heavy Rain: June 14-15, 2011

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