Tornado Watch Lifted For Twin Cities

MINNESOTA — The Twin Cities area was at risk for tornadoes and hail late Monday, according to the National Weather Service.

As of early Monday evening, a tornado watch was in effect for 21 Minnesota counties, including Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington. But by around 6:30 p.m., the watch had been adjusted to exclude the metro area.

The peak window for severe weather was 5-9 p.m., with strong tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds and frequent lightning all likely, the service reported. The areas with the highest risks across the broader northern Midwest region — a 4 on a scale of 1 to 5 — were in portions of southern Minnesota, northern Iowa and western Wisconsin.

"The most dangerous period is likely during the late afternoon and evening when strong tornado potential should be maximized. Scattered large to very large hail and damaging winds are likely as well," meteorologists at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, wrote.

Depending on how the storms form, tornadoes in the EF-2 range or greater are possible, the weather service office for the Minneapolis area said.

People are advised to know safe places to shelter from storms in their homes and to have multiple ways to receive warnings for extreme weather, according to the service.

Showers and thunderstorms are expected after 5 p.m. and are forecast to continue into the early morning hours, with wind gusts as high as 25-30 mph, the service reported.

Minneapolis closed its public-facing non-emergency city facilities, including its main service center, as of 2 p.m. and activated its emergency operations center.

Some Twin Cities area schools canceled evening activities ahead of the storms, including the St. Paul and Bloomington school districts.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.