Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Plenty of Friday sunshine; wet at times Saturday

If you liked Thursday, you'll also enjoy today!

We have a high-pressure system sitting just to our south, which will give Minnesota a dry Friday. We'll have plenty of sunshine, with a few patchy clouds later in the afternoon.

Winds will be light, and dew points will be in the comfortable 50s.

Highs in the mid 70s are expected over southern Minnesota, with a few lower 70s in the north:

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Rain returns Saturday

The high-pressure system drifts eastward Friday night. Periods of showers and a few thunderstorms are expected late tonight and Saturday over Minnesota and Wisconsin:

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the general rain pattern later tonight and Saturday:

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NOAA/NAM data, via College of DuPage

The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows a marginal risk of severe weather for central and southern Minnesota Saturday and Saturday night:

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Storm Prediction Center/National Weather Service

The marginal risk category indicates that an isolated severe thunderstorm is possible.

The latest computer model run shows that there is also a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms Sunday afternoon and early Sunday evening.

Weekend temps

Saturday will be the cooler day of the weekend, with highs in the 70s:

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Northeastern Minnesota will see upper 60s.

On Sunday, we expect highs in the lower 80s over much of Minnesota:

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Northeastern Minnesota can expect upper 70s.

Tropical update

All eyes are on an area of low pressure that extends from eastern Cuba to the central Bahamas. It is expected to drift west-northwestward over the next couple of days.

The National Hurricane Center states that there is a 60 percent chance that this will become a tropical cyclone within the next 5 days.

The low could approach south Florida in a few days, possibly as a tropical storm. If it passes into the warmer waters of the Gulf of Mexico early next week, it could become a hurricane.

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National Hurricane Center

The National Hurricane Center posts frequent tropical weather updates.

Programming note

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