Tornado watch Thursday as storms intensify in southern Minnesota
For the second day in a row, the National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for parts of southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin.
According to the weather service, a "few" tornadoes are possible along with winds up to 70 mph and quarter-sized hail in the strongest storms. The tornado watch is in effect until 8 p.m. CT.
"An emerging cluster of thunderstorms ahead of a surface low and along a warm front will pose some risk of tornadoes and damaging wind gusts through the afternoon," says NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.
You can see on the current radar below (through 2:56 p.m.) that strong storms were moving across southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. Multiple tornado warnings have already been issued.Have a way to receive warnings and be ready to take shelter if a warning is issued for your area.
This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 26, 2025, where it first appeared.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
As floods hit, key roles were vacant at weather service offices in Texas
Advertisement The shortages are among the factors likely to be scrutinized as the death toll climbs from the floods. Separate questions have emerged about the preparedness of local communities, including Kerr County's apparent lack of a local flood warning system. The county, about 50 miles northwest of San Antonio, is where many of the deaths occurred. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In an interview, Rob Kelly, the Kerr County judge and its most senior elected official, said the county did not have a warning system because such systems are expensive, and local residents are resistant to new spending. 'Taxpayers won't pay for it,' Kelly said. Asked if people might reconsider in light of the catastrophe, he said, 'I don't know.' The weather service's San Angelo office, which is responsible for some of the areas hit hardest by Friday's flooding, was missing a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster, and meteorologist in charge, according to Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization, the union that represents weather service workers. Advertisement The weather service's nearby San Antonio office, which covers other areas hit by the floods, also had significant vacancies, including a warning coordination meteorologist and science officer, Fahy said. Staff members in those positions are meant to work with local emergency managers to plan for floods, including when and how to warn local residents and help them evacuate. That office's warning coordination meteorologist left April 30, after taking the early retirement package the Trump administration used to reduce the number of federal employees, according to a person with knowledge of his departure. Some of the openings may predate the current Trump administration. But at both offices, the vacancy rate is roughly double what it was when Trump returned to the White House in January, according to Fahy. John Sokich, who until January was director of congressional affairs for the weather service, said those unfilled positions made it harder to coordinate with local officials because each weather service office works as a team. 'Reduced staffing puts that in jeopardy,' he said. A spokesperson for the weather service, Erica Grow Cei, did not answer questions from The New York Times about the Texas vacancies, including how long those positions had been open and whether those vacancies had contributed to the damage caused by the flooding. 'The National Weather Service is heartbroken by the tragic loss of life,' she said in a statement, adding that the agency 'remains committed to our mission to serve the American public through our forecasts and decision support services.' Advertisement A White House spokesperson directed a request for comment to the Commerce Department, which includes the weather service. A Commerce spokesperson said there have been no funding cuts to the weather service and added: 'The timely and accurate forecasts and alerts for Texas this weekend prove that the NWS remains fully capable of carrying out its critical mission.' The tragedy began to unfold in the early hours of Friday, when more than 10 inches of rain fell in some areas northwest of San Antonio, including in Kerr County, where more than 850 people were evacuated by rescuers. Several campers and a counselor from Camp Mystic, a girls' summer camp in Kerr County, remained missing Sunday, according to Larry Leitha, the county sheriff. On Saturday night, Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, appeared to fault the weather service, noting that forecasters Wednesday had predicted as much as 6 to 8 inches of rain in the region. 'The amount of rain that fell in this specific location was never in any of those forecasts,' he said at a news conference with Governor Greg Abbott. But what makes flash floods so hazardous is their ability to strike quickly, with limited warning. Around midnight Thursday, the San Angelo and San Antonio weather offices put out their first flash flood warnings, urging people to 'move immediately to higher ground.' The office sent out additional flash flood warnings through the night, expanding the area of danger. It is not clear what steps local officials took to act on those warnings. A spokesperson for the Kerr County emergency management department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Advertisement The amount of rain that fell Friday morning was hard for the weather service to anticipate, with reports in some areas of 15 inches over just a few hours, according to Louis W. Uccellini, who was director of the weather service from 2013 until 2022. 'It's pretty hard to forecast for these kinds of rainfall rates,' Uccellini said. He said that climate change was making extreme rainfall events more frequent and severe, and that more research was needed so that the weather service could better forecast those events. An equally important question, he added, was how the weather service was coordinating with local emergency managers to act on those warnings as they came in. 'You have to have a response mechanism that involves local officials,' Uccellini said. 'It involves a relationship with the emergency management community, at every level.' But that requires having staff members in those positions, he said. Under the Trump administration, the weather service, like other federal agencies, has been pushed to reduce its number of employees. By this spring, through layoffs and retirements, the weather service had lost nearly 600 people from a workforce that until recently was as large as 4,000. This article originally appeared in
Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
Photos show scenes from the Texas floods and the summer camp where 10 children remain missing
During a press conference on Sunday,Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said 68 people are confirmed dead, including 40 adults and 28 children. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said another 10 people were killed in the broader central Texas. Officials said 10 children and one counselor from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' camp along the Guadalupe River, remained unaccounted for. In areas affected by the flooding across the state, there are still 41 known missing people. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes on Friday as torrential rain battered the region. The National Weather Service said the river reached the second-highest height on record. The agency on Sunday extended a flood watch for parts of central Texas through 7 p.m. local time. Here are some images showing the impact of the flooding and ongoing search and rescue efforts.
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Flood threat still looms over battered Texas Hill Country: See flood warnings
The threat of floods continues to loom in Central Texas as the search for survivors and victims of the historic flash floods that swept through the state intensifies. At least 70 people died during the storm and Gov. Greg Abbott announced at a July 6 press conference that at least 41 people were known to be missing across the state and areas affected by the flooding. Among those still missing were 10 children and a counselor from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp near the Guadalupe River. The impending storms forced Abbott and other state emergency officials to hold the Sunday evening news conference in Austin, with the governor saying that more expected storms will "pose life-threatening danger over the next 24 to 48 hours." "There is heavy rainfall that's already occurred and there's more heavy rainfall that's expected that will lead to potential flash flooding broadly in these in the Big Country, Concho Valley, Central Texas and once again Kerrville," Abbot said. Where are Texas thunderstorms, flood warnings continuing? Flood watches have been issued by the National Weather Service until at least 7 p.m. CT July 6 in Hill Country and along the I-35 corridor. The Weather Prediction Center added that scattered thunderstorms are likely to drop "torrential downpours over sensitive soils across parts of the Texas Hill Country." A flash flood warning was issued through 6 p.m. CT for Cedar Park, Georgetown, and Leander. A separate flash flood warning was issued for Ingram and Hunt through 6 p.m. CT. Abbot told Texans to remain "extraordinarily" cautious at the press conference. "There's nothing expected at this time to the magnitude of what was seen in Kerrville," Abbot said. "That said flash flooding can occur at lower levels of water than what happened in Kerrville." Texas flood warnings questioned The new warnings come on as questions swirl around forecasters' response to the weather patterns that lead to the Independence Day floods. Local officials said they were caught off guard by the floods. "We didn't know this flood was coming," Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly told reporters after the flood. "We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever." Officials at the Texas Division of Emergency Management were publishing news releases warning that "heavy rainfall with the potential to cause flash flooding is anticipated across West Texas and the Hill Country" and readying resources, such as swift-water rescue boat squads, as early as July 2. At around midnight on July 3, rain began gushing into the Guadalupe River – dropping more than 10 inches into the river at Hunt in just four hours and swelling it to dangerous levels. At 4:03 a.m., the NWS Austin office put out a "flash flood emergency" bulletin: "This is a FLASH FLOOD EMERGENCY for South-central Kerr County, including Hunt. This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!"
