NOAA weather radios across a large portion of central and southern Minnesota won’t broadcast storm warnings Monday should they be needed as the National Weather Service upgrades its system that delivers alerts.
“Unfortunate timing with the weather today,” said Mike Griesinger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen. “It’s out of our hands when we got scheduled.”
The Weather Service is conducting a nationwide upgrade of its network of radio stations that broadcast continuous weather information, including sending out announcements accompanied with a tone that sounds when watches, warnings or other hazards are issued.
This is the week the Chanhassen office will get the upgrades.
Severe storms are expected across much of southern Minnesota on Monday afternoon, with an area stretching from Brainerd south to the Twin Cities, Red Wing, St. Cloud and Mankato, and south and west to places such as Willmar, Montevideo, Redwood Falls and Worthington under an “enhanced” probability for hail, gusty winds and a few tornadoes, the Weather Service said.
Storms are most likely between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., the Weather Service said.
On Monday through Wednesday, weather radios will not sound in the Twin Cities and the rest of the region covered by the Chanhassen office. That includes transmitters in Red Wing, New Ulm, Clearwater, Long Prairie, Olivia, Norwood Young America, Kensington, Mankato, Willmar and St. Cloud in Minnesota, and Ladysmith and Menomonie in Wisconsin.
Transmitters in other parts of the state will be working, Griesinger said.
