A steamy Fair start, and a mixed weather bag today

If you don't like the weather just wait 15 minutes. - Anonymous

Welcome to Minnesota. Land of 10,000 Lakes and a million weather extremes. Land of Sky Blue Waters?

Talk about optimism.

Gray dominates the landscape today in the northeast as a swirling low pressure system lollygags over northern Wisconsin and western Lake Superior.

The rest of Minnesota enjoys a chameleon sky, with changes every few minutes as if the sky were trying to match some odd color palette in nature.

Here's a look at the Great Lakes low pressure system spinning out today. We catch a short break tonight and Wednesday, before the next warm front spills in by early Thursday with more waves of thunderstorms.

Walk between the raindrops

Keep the umbrella and the sunglasses handy over the next week, you'll need both. Overall, another 1- to 3-inch rainfall seems likely for many Minnesota locations in the next week.

We pick our sunny spots in between the wet episodes. Scattered T-showers may pop up today in a still-agitated air mass over eastern Minnesota and Wisconsin. We catch a break tonight and tomorrow before a vigorous warm front drives in a batch of nocturnal storms late Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Another round fires off sometime Friday or Friday night, timing still unclear.

Yes, the opening days of the State Fair should feel steamy. Dew points soaring to 70-plus degrees will make you feel "close" as you stroll the fairgrounds with a hundred thousand of your Minnesota neighbors Thursday and Friday.

September preview: Temps crash next week?

Those of you wanting some cooler weather to stroll the fairgrounds may want to wait until next week. The Euro model has been the most aggressive with a September-like, even October-like, air mass coming south next week. High in the upper 50s by next Thursday? We'll see, but some much cooler air looks likely after a shot at 90 late this week.

Stay tuned.