(KNSI) – Record high temperatures, rain, severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and even snow are all at stake for Minnesota’s weather today.

National Weather Service meteorologist Paige Marten said we’ve never seen a moderate risk of severe weather this late in the year in Minnesota before. She says a moderate risk of severe weather in summer is a rarity, “let alone nine days before Christmas.”

She says the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Chanhassen, where she is based, never issued a tornado or severe thunderstorm watch or warning in December. She says there were a couple of in November, but for a state that saw more than a foot and a half of snow in some areas last Friday, “it’s really unprecedented.”

Marten explains that the setup started Wednesday morning with a deep depression over the state. The official barometric pressure reading for the region was 969 millibars or 28.61 inches. The previous record was 980 millibars or 28.94 inches. The average for the area is 1011 millibars or 29.85 inches. Highs in the southeastern part of the state, where most severe weather is expected, could reach as low as 60 on Wednesday afternoon. This, combined with the humidity of the gulf on strong southerly winds that collide with the northwesterly wind with a strong cold front, is the recipe for a “rather unstable atmosphere”.

According to Marten, the main dangers widespread today will be the destructive winds. “There is a threat for a few tornadoes, but in terms of affecting the larger and larger area, destructive winds between 30 and 40 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 60 miles per hour.” For severe thunderstorm warnings in the summer, she says the threshold is below 60 miles per hour, so it’s “an incredibly strong wind that we expect later tonight.” The thunderstorm line could contain wind gusts of more than 80 miles per hour in southern and eastern Minnesota.

She says the timing on the system is expected around 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. Wednesday afternoon, but gusts of wind will remain overnight.

Once the storms start to set in, she says they will move very quickly, so have a way to get warnings and be prepared in the event of a power outage. After the system goes through, she says temperatures will drop into teens and twenties, so “have a backup plan to be warm.”

Marten says the high winds could also affect driving later in the day and tonight for those in high profile vehicles like semi-trailers or buses. If you’re on the go, she says, “Give them more room on the road. Don’t pass someone if you are if it’s too windy. Just a general kind of thing outside the box of what you can do to be prepared. “

Since the last model update, the St. Cloud region is under marginal risk for Wednesday. The further east you are, the greater the risk of severe and severe weather, including Faribault, Owatonna and Rochester. Tornado spin-ups will be difficult to see as the heaviest weather is expected after dark. The northwestern areas of the state are subject to a winter weather advisory starting at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday evening.

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