Twin Cities under severe thunderstorm watch Tuesday afternoon

The Twin Cities metro area along with Rochester and far eastern portions of Minnesota – and a larger area of Wisconsin – have been placed in a severe thunderstorm watch until 9 p.m. Tuesday. 

According to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, severe storms could produce scattered large hail, some hailstones up to 2 inches in diameter, along with scattered damaging winds up to 70 mph. 

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"Thunderstorms are building westward along a cold front across parts of northern Wisconsin and central Minnesota. These storms will track southeastward across the watch area this afternoon and evening, posing a risk of large hail and locally damaging wind gusts," the Storm Prediction Center said. 

As of 2 p.m. the storms in Wisconsin were already severe and the line extending into Minnesota appeared to be strengthening as they moved southeast. 

Here's the full forecast from today with meteorologist Sven Sundgaard.