Lovely Friday; much warmer weekend

Friday looks picture perfect. High pressure centered over the Dakotas will bring sunny skies and a light, dry northwest breeze. Dew points will remain quite low.

Friday’s afternoon high temperatures will be in the 70s over much of the state to some low 80s. The Twin Cities will have a high around 81 with a northwest wind of 5-10 mph.

Weekend warmup

The warmup will begin on Saturday with highs mostly in the 80s. The Twin Cities should heat up to about 88 with a bit of an increase in the dew point.

Sunday will be toasty and increasingly humid. The Twin Cities might touch 90 with dew points climbing up the 60s. Scattered thunderstorms will cross Minnesota eastward throughout the day, mainly across the northern half of the state. Some storms could become strong or even severe by late Sunday afternoon or evening.

Getting hot next week

Monday will bring some thermal relief. Then the heat looks to really crank up by midweek. The Twin Cities might be looking at upper 90s on Wednesday.

Needed rain

Rain is certainly needed in parts of the state, including much of the Twin Cities area. Unfortunately, the seven-day precipitation outlook through 7 a.m. next Friday is not very promising. Most of the state is forecast to get little rain. Only parts of eastern Minnesota, mainly in the northeast, have some likelihood of getting an inch or more of rain during the next week.