Strong thunderstorms possible Saturday afternoon, night

Today we enjoyed the kind of summery weather that we dream about in January. We had sunshine and just a few decorative clouds. Highs over most of Minnesota were in the lower 80s, with southeasterly breezes.

South-southeasterly winds will continue overnight, and winds will be stronger on Saturday as a low pressure system moves closer.

It will become steamy on Saturday, with dew point temperatures approaching 70 degrees over much of Minnesota. High temperatures will be in the 80s in most areas, and some spots could be close to 90:

With warm temperatures and humid air in place, thunderstorms are likely to spread across Minnesota during the afternoon and early evening hours on Saturday.

Severe weather risk

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible Saturday morning in northern Minnesota, but those thunderstorms would tend to be non-severe.

An isolated shower or thunderstorm is also possible in southern Minnesota Saturday morning, but the main event will arrive in the afternoon and early evening.

A cold front is expected to enter western Minnesota Saturday afternoon and ignite thunderstorms as it moves eastward:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale Forecast System shows the thunderstorms spreading across Minnesota and into western Wisconsin during the late afternoon and early evening hours:

Some severe weather is possible.

Here is a summary of the severe weather risk from the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service:

Northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin also have a risk of severe weather Saturday and Saturday night.

The complete severe weather outlook for Saturday and Saturday night from the Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service:

In the enhanced risk area, which includes the Twin Cities, we have a better chance of tornadoes, large hail, and damaging thunderstorms winds than the slight risk area.

Here are the risk categories used by the Storm Prediction Center:

Our best chance of severe weather in the Twin Cities appears to be from about mid afternoon into early evening on Saturday. Check later forecasts for updates on the timing of Saturday's thunderstorms.

If you are traveling tomorrow or tomorrow evening, it would be good to stay aware of which county you are in.  Severe weather warnings are issued by counties or portions of counties.

Breezy and cooler Sunday

A low-pressure system north of the Canadian border will give us a less humid, but breezy, Sunday. Far northern Minnesota could see occasional Sunday showers.

Sunday highs over most of central and southern Minnesota will be slightly cooler than our Saturday highs. Northern Minnesota will be quite a bit cooler on Sunday:

Programming note

You can hear live weather updates at 7:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday on Minnesota Public Radio.