Minneapolis Weather Radar - Live Doppler Map (MN)

🌦️ Minneapolis Weather & Live Doppler Radar Guide

Minneapolis and its twin city of St. Paul form the vibrant Twin Cities metropolitan area along the Upper Mississippi River in southern Minnesota. The region has a pronounced humid continental climate with four distinct seasons, known for extreme temperature swings ranging from sub-zero arctic winter cold to humid 90-degree summer days. Winter storms bring heavy snowfalls, blowing blizzard winds, and polar vortex cold snaps, while summer brings severe convective squall lines, large hail, and bow echo windstorms. High-resolution Doppler weather radar is indispensable for tracking winter snow bands and summer severe storms across Hennepin, Ramsey, and Dakota counties.

📡 NOAA NEXRAD Station: KMPX (Chanhassen / Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)

Our interactive Minneapolis radar connects directly to NOAA's Level-III NEXRAD radar station KMPX, located in Chanhassen, Minnesota, at the National Weather Service Twin Cities Forecast Office. Operating with S-band dual-polarization technology, station KMPX accurately differentiates between wet snow, dry powder snow, freezing rain, sleet, and severe thunderstorm hail cores.

🎨 How to Read Doppler Reflectivity (dBZ Scale)

Radar reflectivity measures precipitation density in decibels of Z (dBZ). Use this color reference when monitoring approaching storms on the Minneapolis radar:

⚠️ Seasonal Severe Storm Threats in Minneapolis

Winter brings crippling blizzards with whiteout conditions and dangerous wind chills below -30 degrees Fahrenheit. In late spring and summer (May through August), the Upper Midwest is vulnerable to widespread derechoes, tornadoes, and severe multi-cell thunderstorms producing damaging straight-line winds.