Heat Brings Extra Rain to Area but it is Still Only a Band-Aid

(KNSI) – This week is still going to be hot, but perhaps a touch less spicy than was initially predicted.

National Weather Service Twin Cities office lead forecaster Michael Griesinger says the heat acts as a catalyst for storm systems. We saw them develop Monday. Another round is expected tonight and pop-up storms on Thursday. That puts a lid on temperatures. Griesinger says tomorrow is when the sun has a chance to bake the area pretty good.

“We will see thunderstorms, at least a chance, come through tonight but kind of coming through early enough where it’s going to be trending to look a little bit warmer for tomorrow as rain and clouds will have time to clear out in time to really start warming up tomorrow afternoon,” he predicts.

St. Cloud Regional Airport has recorded .72″ of rain since Saturday. Central Stearns County got significantly more than that. Griesinger says with the heat this week, the rain doesn’t help dig us out of the extreme drought we’re in.

“That heat pretty much evaporates much of anything you’ve had. The rains we’ve had recently and yesterday and hopefully we get here in the next couple of days, could be a good band-aid. Keep things from spiraling even lower or even worse than they are now.”

Griesinger says the dry weather should be back in place next week but temperatures will be less extreme.

___