Bow echo to blast through Minnesota on Wednesday?

Wednesday could wind up being a significant severe weather day in Minnesota if one of the more reliable short-term forecast models is correct.

The HRRR model, which updates hourly, revealed potential for an intense bow echo pushing out of South Dakota into Minnesota on Wednesday afternoon and delivering what would be a significant damaging wind threat.

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Here's what that swath of damaging winds graphic above looks like in the simulated future radar from the HRRR model from 3 p.m. Wednesday until 6 a.m. Thursday.

How is NOAA's Storm Prediction Center viewing tomorrow's forecast? In an update issued around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, the SPC place a sizable chunk of Minnesota in a slight risk (level 2 of 5 on the scale) for severe storms, with a level 3 enhanced threat in western Iowa and a sliver of far southwestern Minnesota. You can see in the image to the right (below) that damaging winds are a significant threat in eastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota and southward in Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas.

While the HRRR model is suggesting a bow echo ripping through southern Minnesota, the North American Model (NAM) is predicting the damaging wind threat to be mostly in Iowa, which corresponds better with what the SPC is forecasting.

Temps will be very hot on Wednesday, with air temps surging into the 90s and heat indices reaching triple digits thanks to dew points in the 70s. Here's a cool visual of how the temps could rise throughout the day before rapidly dropping if a line of storms plows across the state.

Whatever happens, there is a damaging wind threat in the region on Wednesday. It's just a matter of where it happens, so check back for updates.