Dorian is a major hurricane, and its forecast track has shifted again

Our three-day holiday weekend will start out feeling like autumn, but many areas will have summery temperatures and dew points on Labor Day.

Temperature trends

Highs will be upside-down this Saturday, with 60s in portions of southern Minnesota, and lower 70s in the north. The Twin Cities metro area will ride the boundary between highs in the upper 60s to around 70.

Sunday highs will feature a lot of 70s, with 60s near Lake Superior:

Southern Minnesota will top out in the lower 80s on Labor Day, with mostly 70s elsewhere:

Some spots in northeastern Minnesota may peak in the 60s.

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the mid 70s Tuesday, and around 70 on Wednesday and Thursday.

Rain chances

The best chance of occasional showers this Saturday is expected to be from southwestern Minnesota through southeastern Minnesota. Portions of west-central Minnesota could see scattered showers. A brief passing shower is possible in the Twin Cities metro area and west-central Wisconsin.

As always, updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network, and you’ll also see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

A few scattered sprinkles are possible on Sunday.

Northern Minnesota could see scattered showers/t-storms on Labor Day, starting in the afternoon. Those showers/t-storms probably spread into central and southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin as we go through Monday evening and Monday night. Our Monday Twin Cities metro area shower/t-storm chance probably holds off until Monday evening.

The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center shows a slight risk of severe weather Monday and Monday night for much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Slight risk means that scattered severe thunderstorms are possible. Our Twin Cities metro area risk of severe weather would tend to be Monday evening or overnight Monday night. Here’s a look at the risk area and the timing of the severe risk, from the Twin Cities NWS office:

Hurricane Dorian

Hurricane Dorian’s maximum sustained winds were 150 mph Saturday morning, making it a Category 4 hurricane.

The forecast track of the center of Hurricane Dorian has been shifted eastward, which is good news for many Floridians:

The forecast graphic depicts the “cone of uncertainty” of the path of the center of Hurricane Dorian. The National Hurricane Center will update the Hurricane Dorian forecast every few hours. Here are the main messages listed by the National Hurricane Center Saturday morning:

Even if the center of Hurricane Dorian tracks well off the east coast of Florida, portions of eastern Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas will see damaging winds and heavy rain. Here’s the rainfall potential from Dorian:

Northern lights

Some people saw northern lights Friday night:

Here’s the Aurora forecast from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Geophysical Institute for Saturday night:

Here are the aurora forecast details for Saturday night:

Forecast: Auroral activity will be high. Weather permitting, highly active auroral displays will be visible overhead from Inuvik, Yellowknife, Rankin and Iqaluit to Juneau, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay and Sept-Iles, and visible low on the horizon from Seattle, Des Moines, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, and Halifax.

Minnesotans to the north will have the best potential view of northern light Saturday night, but some of us to the south could see northern lights low on the horizon. We might have a few glimpses of the northern lights between batches of clouds.

More on the northern lights can be found here.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.