A sun-splashed weekend; best rain chances hold off until Thursday

Nearby high pressure led to calm wind conditions over much of Minnesota early Saturday morning. Many spots in northeastern Minnesota had low temps in the 30s:

Temps in the coldest areas rebounded to the upper 50s by mid morning.

Temperature trends

Minnesota highs will be mainly in the 80s this Saturday, Some spots in northwestern Minnesota could touch 90 and there will be a few upper 70s up along the North Shore of Lake Superior. Dew points will be in the very comfortable 40s and lower 50s.

Sunday highs will be in the 80s in most areas, with a few lower 90s in the northwest:

Sunday afternoon dew points will range from the mid 50s to lower 60s:

Back to forecast high temps, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the mid 80s on Monday and Tuesday, followed by upper 80s Wednesday. Our highs retreat to the lower 80s Thursday and around 80 on Friday.

Rain chances?

95% of Minnesota is in drought right now, so we’re still looking for rain.

This weekend still looks dry in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Parts of far southern Minnesota and far western Minnesota could see a shower or thunderstorm late Tuesday. A few spotty showers and thunderstorms are possible on Wednesday, with a better chance of occasional showers and thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday.

I hesitate to show the following radar loop, because Thursday is so many days away and the rain potential could change a bit by then. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System GFS model shows the potential rain pattern for Thursday and Friday:

Pay less attention to the exact location of the rain in the GFS model than the fact that there are numerous areas of rain. Let’s hope that many of us see at least some periods of rain on Thursday and Friday.

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio network, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

We had 11 tornadoes in Minnesota one year ago today

The Minnesota DNR State Climatology Office has a nice recap of the tornadoes that hit Minnesota on August 14, 2020. Here’s an excerpt from their post of last August:

Severe thunderstorms spawned multiple tornadoes during the afternoon and evening hours of Friday, August 14. At least eleven tornadoes touched down, mostly in central Minnesota. In addition, there were many reports of wind damage. The strongest tornado was rated EF1 about 3 three miles west of Glencoe and uprooted trees and damaged outbuildings. There were numerous photos and videos of this tornado shared on social media. A wind gust of 64mph was reported at the Twin Cities International Airport.

The Climatology Office has track details for the tornadoes in the linked post.

We’re enjoying much quieter August 14 weather this year!

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.