The National Weather Service issued two severe thunderstorm watches on Wednesday for parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa as another round of storms was expected to develop later in the day. Both watches run until 8 p.m. Wednesday and cover a broad swath of the Upper Midwest, including central and northern Minnesota, far southeast Minnesota, most of Wisconsin and eastern Iowa.
The watches were issued after morning storms, with forecasters warning that the atmosphere will recharge through late morning and afternoon. The latest round of storms could develop between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday, and the main hazards include scattered large hail, isolated hail up to two inches in size, wind gusts to 65 miles per hour and the chance of one or two tornadoes.
In Minnesota, one watch stretches from Brained and Hinckley northward, though parts of the Arrowhead region are excluded. The other covers far southeast Minnesota, while in Wisconsin the watch leaves out some far northeastern counties near the Upper Peninsula. In Iowa, the alert reaches eastern counties along the Wisconsin and Illinois borders.
Forecasters have already placed eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin in a level 3 enhanced risk of severe weather, extending into eastern Iowa and northern Illinois. Central Minnesota is in a level 2 slight risk, while western Minnesota is in a level 1 marginal risk, a spread that shows the setup is broad even if the exact storm track is not. The uncertainty now is where the strongest cells will actually form during the afternoon window.
For residents in the watch area, the key question is not whether the weather will stay active through Wednesday evening, but which communities will end up under the toughest storms. The watches expire at 8 p.m., but the severe weather threat will remain in play until the storms finally organize and move through.
