Weather Alerts For Hayward, MN

# SUMMARY -------------------- THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 341 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS IN MINNESOTA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 8 COUNTIES IN EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA DAKOTA SCOTT IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA FREEBORN LE SUEUR RICE STEELE WASECA IN SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA GOODHUE IN WISCONSIN THIS WATCH INCLUDES 2 COUNTIES IN WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN PEPIN PIERCE THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALBERT LEA, DURAND, FARIBAULT, HASTINGS, LE SUEUR, OWATONNA, RED WING, RIVER FALLS, SHAKOPEE, AND WASECA. # DETAILS -------------------- ISSUED AT Wednesday, June 17, 2026 at 1:17 PM CDT ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN HEADER WATCH COUNTY NOTIFICATION FOR WATCH 341

Closest strike: 1.18 miles Stay Alert! Remain in a safe area until there has been no lightning within 10 miles of this location for 30 minutes. Please be aware that lightning activity can remain high even when a storm is moving away from your location. Even if rain has stopped, do not leave your safe area until WeatherBug indicates that lightning is more than 10 miles away from this selected location. IF OUTDOORS Avoid water, high ground, and open spaces. Avoid all metal objects including electric wires, fences, and machinery. Find a safe area in a building or in a fully enclosed vehicle with the windows completely shut. Unsafe places include underneath canopies, small picnic or rain shelters, convertibles, or near trees. IF INDOORS Avoid water and stay away from doors and windows. Avoid using a hard line telephone. Take off headphones. Turn off, unplug, and stay away from appliances, computers, power tools, and TV sets. Lightning may strike exterior electric and phone lines, inducing shocks to inside equipment.

There is a Slight Severe Storm Risk for your location. Continue reading for today's outlook from the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. -------------------- National Severe Storm Outlook THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS PARTS OF ILLINOIS AND INDIANA THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT OVER SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA AND SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI SUMMARY Numerous severe thunderstorms are expected this afternoon into tonight, with the peak threat centered over Illinois and Indiana. Intense tornadoes, swaths of damaging gusts over 75 mph and damaging wind-driven large hail will all be possible. MO/IL/IN An intense and fast-moving shortwave trough continues to approach the Midwest today, with an associated 90+ knot mid level jet streaking across the region. A very strong southerly low-level jet precedes this trough, and has resulted in widespread thunderstorms over central IL. The effects of this early convection will be important to the mesoscale details of where the main risk of severe storms will develop later today. The primary outflow boundary from ongoing storms currently extends from extreme northeast MO into south-central IL, and continues to sag southward. Strong heating is occurring to the south of the boundary, and given the intense low-level flow, some northward return is expected. However, it appears unlikely to substantially destabilize as far north as earlier forecasts. The zone in vicinity of the boundary will become very unstable by mid-late afternoon, with forecast soundings continuing to show impressive shear values and hodograph structures suggestive of tornadic supercell potential. Very large hail and damaging winds will also be possible with this activity as it tracks quickly eastward into central IN. Strong tornadoes are possible. By mid-evening, a line of severe storms will likely extend from central MO into southern IN, with damaging winds becoming the primary threat. Southeast MN A small area of heating/destabilization has developed near the surface low over southern MN. Cold temperatures aloft and strong deep-layer shear suggests a threat of a few severe storms capable of hail and gusty/damaging winds this afternoon. LA/MS Tropical Storm Arthur will track northward and affect LA and southern MS tonight. A zone of strong southerly low-level winds to the east of the circulation will result in some concern for overnight and pre-dawn tornadoes across southeast LA into far southern MS. Southern AZ/NM Scattered afternoon and evening thunderstorms are expected across southeast AZ and southwest NM. Strong heating and ample instability will pose a risk of damaging wind gusts in the strongest cells.