Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

A couple more comfortable days then becoming hot; plus the latest drought monitor

A few showers possible north again Thursday

thu highs 8am
Forecast high temperatures Thursday
NOAA via pivotal weather

Instability showers and clouds will keep northern Minnesota cooler, in the 60s Thursday. Southern Minnesota will see sunshine with highs in the 70s. Heat builds in this weekend again.

Cooler than normal Thursday; showers north

Northern and southern Minnesota will have rather different weather on Thursday. Southern Minnesota will see more sunshine, while northern Minnesota will see substantial cloud cover as lingering instability creates the possibility of showers there as well.

precip THU 8am
Forecast precipitation Thursday
College of DuPage Weather

That difference in cloud cover will impact temperatures too. Highs will only be in the 60s in northeast Minnesota while southern Minnesota sees highs in the mid to upper 70s, potentially our coolest day of this month. It’ll be another cool, comfortable overnight with 40s in the northeast and 50s elsewhere.

lows FRI 8am
Forecast low temperatures Thursday night into early Friday morning
National Weather Service

Excessive heat next week?

There’s already preliminary talk of excessive heat for the middle of next week from the Climate Prediction Center.

excess heat
Excessive heat outlook for mid to late next week
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center

High temperatures will be near 90 by Sunday already, but by Wednesday next week it appears temperatures could reach the mid-90s to low 100s for portions of southern and western Minnesota.

wed highs 8am
Forecast high temperatures Wednesday
NOAA via pivotal weather

Along with the increase in temperature of course will come more muggy air. Dew points will be in the 60s by Sunday into next week, possibly near the rather humid 70 degrees at times.

Drought conditions unchanged so far

The latest drought monitor is largely unchanged from last week, however, it does not take into account the rainfall from Tuesday evening. That moisture will be considered next week.

drought
The latest drought monitor (note: it does not take into account Tuesday night's rainfall yet)
National Drought Mitigation Center

The western half of the drought areas (New Ulm to Le Seur and Mankato) saw significant rains of 1 to 2 inches Tuesday evening, which at least should dent the drought there. The Twin Cities area saw significantly less.

tues precip
Precipitation from Tuesday into Tuesday night this week
National Weather Service

Even though some narrow swaths of the north and south metro saw decent rains last weekend, as you can see, it had little effect on overall drought conditions.

It’s likely with hot, dry weather between now and next week, drought will actually expand in some areas, even if some portions are trimmed back.