'Enhanced risk' of severe storms in parts of Minnesota, including Twin Cities

The Twin Cities is included in an area of Minnesota at risk of experiencing severe storms starting Monday evening.

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center has placed much of southern Minnesota – including the Twin Cities metro – in the area of "enhanced risk" for severe weather.

In its forecast discussion, the NWS says that "strong to severe storms" could formulate from late Monday into Tuesday as a cold front arrives in the state.

Sign up for our BREAKING WEATHER newsletters

But in a caution to sky-watchers, the NWS says: "The severe threat is conditional, however given the heat there will be a large amount of instability to work with."

It will come after another stifling day of weather on Monday, with the combination of high humidity and air temperatures in the low 90s contributing to a heat index in the triple digits in some areas.

"Suffice to say, it will not be pleasant to be outside of air conditioning and we cannot overstate the necessity of heat safety including limiting time outdoors, avoiding strenuous activity, and drinking a more than normal amount of fluids throughout the day," the NWS says.

"The heat advisory and excessive heat warning have been summarily expanded as greater confidence in exceeding the critical thresholds has been reached as the last few forecast cycles have remained consistent."

The worst of the storms is expected to arrive around 7 p.m.–8 p.m. in western Minnesota, getting to the Twin Cities in the region of 2 a.m.–3 a.m.

"As far as hazards go, the initial supercell threat will contain significant hail and wind potential alongside a numerically smaller but still significant tornado threat, becoming more of a wind and flash flooding threat should the MCS threat manifest as the front pushes into eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin," the forecast discussion says.

"With the potential for a strong system to be moving through overnight, it would be a good idea to ensure you can be woken up by any potential warnings during the night."